The New York Mets have reportedly agreed to a one-year deal worth $2 million dollars with RHP Jorge López, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Lopez, 30, struggled in 2023 after putting up a phenomenal season in 2022 with the Orioles/Twins, and with the current state of the bullpen adding arms like López is currently a plan it seems like for the Mets as they try to fix a broken bullpen. Outside of Edwin Diaz and Brooks Raley the organization’s ‘pen is in a very broken down state, but since the start of the off-season they have added arms, biggest one being Michael Tonkin who’s a inning eater with good stuff, which could benefit the team. Jorge Lopez is an interesting player. In 2022 he was dominant and no one could really touch him, but in 2023 it was very different as he saw his ERA spike from a very good 2.54 to a atrocious 5.95, and the underlying metrics also took a big hit. He stayed consistent with keeping barrels down while also holding his GB% rate high, something that has always sticked with Lopez thru the bad and the good was his fastball velocity, he was 90th percentile this past season, according to statcast. But now let’s take a look at his numbers:
Jorge López 2023 Stats:
⁃ 59.0 IP
⁃ 18.4% K%
⁃ 8.3% BB%
⁃ 23.2% Whiff%
⁃ 73 ERA+
⁃ 5.95 ERA
⁃ 5.76 FIP
⁃ 112 Stuff+
As you can see on the surface it’s not great, but the stuff is still there, so if the Mets can unlock even half of his 2022 production, this deal would turn into a big plus and fill a massive deal. Now we just have to wait and how this pans out come season time.
BS Reports 
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