If he?s lucky, a major-league team will offer Javy Lopez a minor-league contract next winter and an invitation to spring training.
If he?s lucky.
Lopez, in the final year of a three-year contract he signed with the Orioles after a career year (.328, 43 homers, 109 RBI) with Atlanta in 2003, has become the forgotten man on the roster.
After hitting .316 with the Orioles in 2004 (with 23 homers and 86 RBI), Lopez?s numbers dipped last year (.278, 15 homers, 49 RBI), due largely to a broken bonein his right hand. He missed two months, and in the offseason, the Orioles signed catcher Ramon Hernandez, relegating Lopez to part-time status behind the plate.
In 76 games this year, Lopez has batted .265 with eight homers and 31 RBI, which is less than you want from someone who makes about $8 million a season but acceptable for someone who?s reluctantly transitioned to the bench.
When Boston?s Jason Varitek went on the DL for a partially torn meniscus in left knee this week, I thought the perfect solution for the Red Sox would be to acquire Lopez for the rest of the season. Varitek figures to be out 4-6 weeks ? or longer, and Lopez?s right-handed bat would seem an adequate boost for the stretch drive.
In fact, the Orioles contacted the Red Sox about Lopez, but they, while interested, did not want to pick up the rest of his contract, and they weren?t willing to trade anyone of value for him.
To replace Varitek on the roster, the Sox called up former Orioles catcher Ken Huckaby to back up sub-.200-hitting Doug Mirabelli.
Hernandez has done a sterling job for the Orioles behind the plate and has a swing made for Camden Yards (his road numbers pale in comparison). But he has a long way to go before he ever approaches Lopez statistically.
On baseball-reference.com, every player is analyzed by the numbers, and each player?s page includes a “Most Similar by Age” column, showing what players from the past stack up ? numbers-wise ? with that player.
For Lopez, the catchers who are most similar by age alternate between Carlton Fisk and Gabby Hartnett ? Hall of Famers both ? for the ages 25 to 35. For Hernandez, the similar receivers are Del Rice, Randy Hundley, Joe Oliver, and most recently Jody Davis. You be the judge.
I?m not claiming that Javy Lopez has a future date in Cooperstown, but the humane thing to do is to let him go somewhere else to finish the season, somewhere he can actually play. Yes, two months of his salary is a significant amount of money, but it?s abundantly clear he?s got no role here anymore. Call him in, say thanks, eat the money, and send him on his way.
Listen to Phil Wood every Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN Radio 1300.
