King: Haslam to be ‘Much More Involved’ in Browns’ Day-to-Day
August 7, 2012Trent Richardson Could Miss First Preseason Game With Sore Knee
August 7, 2012Following the likes of Johnny Damon and Derek Lowe, veteran infielder — and one-time clean-up hitter — Jose Lopez has been designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians.
Lopez was hitting .249 with 13 doubles, four home runs and 28 runs batted in during 66 games with the Indians. He was designated for assignment earlier in the season, but cleared waivers and was later assigned to the Columbus Clippers only to be called-up shortly thereafter where he would be plugged into the fourth spot in the teams lineup merely for having a bat that is swung from the right side of the plate.
Taking Lopez’ roster spot will be right-handed pitcher Frank Herrmann. The 28-year-old has spent the entire season with the Clippers where he has seven saves in nine chances and a 4.28 ERA. This move was likely predicated upon the Indians’ starting rotation bleeding the bullpen dry over the month of August. Monday night’s starter Zach McAllister lasted through one and two-thirds of an inning prior to giving way to Josh Tomlin.
[Related: Cleveland and Detroit – Similar Markets – Except When It Comes To Baseball Ownership]
15 Comments
These moves may seem insignificant, but they are important. It shows veterans that if they sign with Cleveland, they won’t be hung out to dry if the season doesn’t turn out the way they planned. They will get a shot to join another contending team and they won’t waste one of the precious chances they have left. This is good PR for the team to remain attractive to free agents down the road.
You mean more Jose Lopezes? Pass.
No. I mean more veterans that are necessary to help a young promising core when the time is right…like a Hershiser, and Pena, etc. It means a lot to them if the team they are negotiating with has a good reputation when dealing with older vets. With these moves we are building/continuing that solid reputation. It will pay off in the future.
you assume the same FO will be here in the future.
I think this all assumes that the player stinks, too. In which case, what difference does it make? It’s not like they’re releasing HOFs here.
let’s start the progression of Clippers up to the MLB team.
Tim Fedroff, come on down.
Matt LaPorta, how about one more shot at the big time.
Jared Goedert, you deserve your cup of tea as much as anyone.
Too bad that after Kluber and Seddon we really don’t have any other starter to bring up.
and I hope Columbus wasn’t planning on winning a AAA title or anything.
Good players, bad players…..same FO or different FO….point is, it’s a positive move for the Indians to do this. Anything to help them appear more desirable to free agents in the future is good thing in my book….even if it is small.
I guess my question is why Lopez? Guy hits right handed doesn’t he? He was batting higher than guys like Lillibridge, Hannahan, Kotchman, etc. I agree we should dump a ton of guys and bring up the AAA roster, but why him?
What you are saying makes sense, it’s just a tad abstract and I think so many of us are so frustrated with the Dolans and hence, Antonetti and co, that it’s difficult to give them any credit for forward thinking.
Count me in the frustrated group as well…but when things are going so poorly, it helps to focus on anything positive you can find…especially when you’re talking about being a fan of a team in an awful tailspin.
Somewhere Hiram is crying.
I don’t see them releasing a good player even if on rental no matter how they are doing
Woah woah woah… where did this notion that Jose Lopez is a good player come from? I know his batting average is average – which seems decent on this team. But surely you all know better than to look at just batting average. His OPS is .272… which is abysmal. His wOBA is only a point higher.
And, to top it off, he’s a HORRIBLE defender. He’s so bad that Jack Hannahan was deemed a better option at SS. He’s so bad that they felt that bringing in Brent Lillibridge to backup the middle infield made sense.
Jose Lopez will not be missed.
same place as Shelley Duncan from 2011. small sample size when he actually was hitting well masked his overall ineffectiveness.
Absolutely. These are the days when players like Cody Allen, Mcalister,Vinnie, Brantley, Kipnis, Santana and Kluber make life bearable by giving us hope. They play hard and without fear because their youthful enthusiasm has kept them from becoming jaded to this point by the business side of the game. They just like to play baseball and I am grateful for that.