Tag: Jorge Lopez

The Jorge Lopez Saga is the Metsiest story ever until the next one

The Jorge Lopez situation would only happen to the hapless Mets.

As the embers of the Jorge Lopez situation (somehow) continue to burn, rest assured that this would likely only happen to the New York Mets.

On Wednesday, the relief pitcher was ejected from a game after a late-innings meltdown, then threw his glove into the stands as he walked back to the dugout. In his postgame interview, Lopez appeared to call the Mets the worst team in the MLB, before issuing a clarifying comment that didn’t really clear up anything.

Unsurprisingly, he got designated for assignment.

A day later, Lopez is fanning the flames. Because no Mets incident ends quietly.

On his Instagram, Lopez lambasted the media for misinterpreting his words (because of the English-Spanish language barrier) as a criticism of the Mets. He doubled down on having actually meant that he was the worst teammate. By doing so, he’s still missing the forest for the trees:

Lopez’s claims of media misrepresentation are fair on their face. People covering him should be able to accurately portray him, his actions, and his words regardless of the language barrier.

But the thing is, the media did give Lopez multiple chances to clarify what he meant, as this Twitter thread from NJ.com Mets beat writer Manny Gomez illustrates. It’s not as if they took his first few sentences and irresponsibly ran with that interpretation. They knew Lopez was speaking his second language and didn’t want to misquote him.

Even then, if Lopez really thinks he got DFA’d because of an unfortunate mischaracterization, he’s likely mistaken. The Mets were probably doing that the moment he threw his glove into the stands. Anything that came after would only serve to further validate their decision.

In classic Mets fashion, welcome to the silliest saga … until the next one happens.

It’s unclear if Jorge López actually called the Mets the worst team, but he’s reportedly getting DFA’d anyway

Did Jorge López actually say the Mets were the worst team in baseball after his ejection?

After New York Mets pitcher Jorge López got ejected from Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, an eye-opening clubhouse interview from López may or may not have been taken out of context.

López tossed his glove into the stands as he exited the game and told reporters after this ejection that he didn’t regret what he did.

However, it’s what he said afterward that caught a lot of attention. In his answer, López seemingly called the Mets the worst team in the MLB.

That’s the kind of hair-raising statement that can get a player traded pretty quickly, as you almost never hear someone on a team actually call their franchise the worst team in the league.

SNY reporter Steve Gelbs reported that he asked López if that’s what he meant to say, and he confirmed to Gelbs that this was how he felt.

However, NJ.com reporter Manny Gómez disputed that this is what López meant. Gómez clarified that English is not López’s first language and was actually saying he looks like the worst teammate in the entire league.

Whether or not López actually called the Mets the worst team in baseball won’t affect his immediate future, as New York will reportedly designated him for assignment.

The context of the situation makes it much more likely López just got a bit lost in translation with his comments, but the uncertainty will keep his response the most publicized response in the Mets clubhouse this season.

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The Twins’ plan to intentionally walk Max Muncy backfired in the worst way

These kinds of strategies are usually executed A LOT better than this.

In a nailbiter extra innings showdown Monday night, it looked like the Minnesota Twins would continue pushing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After already trading shot for shot in an 8-8 barnburner, the Twins were interested in extending this matchup by intentionally walking Max Muncy. Such a gambit loaded the bases but ultimately put Minnesota in a potential position to send this battle to the 13th inning with two outs.

Unfortunately, Minnesota pitcher Jorge Lopez couldn’t fulfill the second half of his bargain on the very next batter. Rather than get a harmless ball into play, he accidentally walked Trayce Thompson, sending the automatic game-winning 9-8 run by Chris Taylor over the plate.

Truly, it was the worst of outcomes after intentionally walking someone.

Look. An intentional walk to try and get the bases loaded is risky in itself. If you’re going to do it, my advice would be not to walk the next batter. For a May regular season game, this is a blunder Lopez and the Twins won’t live down.