Despite all of the good vibes coming from the Late Night Nationals amid their recent stretch of good play and their dominance on the west coast, it seems as if one player did not necessarily catch that same drift. Before the Washington Nationals trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night by scoring 9 runs before making an out, the organization said goodbye to a veteran reliever who began this season in a high-leverage role.
Ironically enough, just about a year ago today, this reliever was DFA'd for another incident that he has become somewhat infamous for, when former Mets reliever Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the crows after being removed from a game. After he made some questionable comments in the postgame interview, he was DFA'd from the Mets before latching on with the Cubs for the rest of the 2024 season.
Well, just over a year later, Lopez again finds himself looking for his next opportunity after a moment in which his emotions got the best of him, as he has been designated for assignment by the Nationals. This comes after an incident earlier this week in which Lopez argued balls and strikes with the home plate umpire in Seattle before eventually surrendering the tying runs in a game the Nationals would go on to lose.
When you combine his recent frustrations with subpar performance, as his 6.57 ERA and 1.297 WHIP would indicate, it doesn't really bode well for a team that has struggled with their bullpen all season long. With Lopez being shown the door, all 3 of Mike Rizzo's offseason additions for the bullpen have now been DFA'd, with Lopez joining the likes of Colin Poche and Lucas Sims.
Although the organization says that it was not performance-related, you have to imagine that is certainly played a bit of a part in the decision, although clearly Lopez letting his emotions get the best of him by arguing a call before blowing a game certainly was not how he wanted to be remembered. Given that Lopez has a bit of a track record now of some mental health struggles, it will be interesting to see what the market looks like for the former All-Star.
You might remember Lopez had another incident that caused controversy around the league earlier this year that did lead to an egregious suspension, one that Andrew McCutchen even clarified later was unintentional on Lopez' part. Nonetheless, in a signing that was very interesting as a guy who didn't necessarily fit the profile of a prototypical Mike Rizzo addition, Lopez just never quite figured it out during his brief tenure in the Nation's Capital, and now we will wait and see how the rest of this situation unfolds, or what further details we are able to gather.
What do you think of the Nationals' decision to DFA Jorge Lopez? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.