Infielder has opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees and is now a free agent, according to a report from yesterday. Lopez had with the organization early last month. The 30-year-old was a fifth-round pick by the Royals back in 2016 and made his MLB debut during the 2019 season. He was a light-hitting middle infielder for his first two seasons in Kansas City, with an atrocious .228/.279/.307 (55 wRC+) line in 159 games acro s those two seasons. While he was roughly a replacement level player overall in those two seasons, he broke out in a big way during the 2021 season. That year, he slashed .300/.365/.378 with a wRC+ Rick Dempsey Jersey of 104, and combined that roughly average slash line with elite defense at shortstop and 22 stolen bases to put together a 5.5 fWAR season. That version of Lopez from 2022 looked like a potential All-Star, but his .347 BABIP that year proved to be unsustainable. He dropped back down to a wRC+ of 55 in 2022, and while his strong defense and baserunning allowed him to remain better than replacement level he hasnt fared quite that well in the years since. He bounced between Kansas City, Atlanta, and the south side of Chicago in 2023 and 24, slashing a modestly improved .238/.317/.299 (77 wRC+) with a high-contact approach (15.1% strikeout rate) but still failed to hit for enough power or post a high enough BABIP to offer even average offensive production. After demonstrating declining speed and defense as he entered his late 20s, Lopez has struggled to hold down a big league job in his age-30 campaign. Hes bounced between the Cubs, Angels, Diamondbacks, and Yankees organizations throughout the year but has made it into just 19 big league games with Chicago and Anaheim. In 28 plate appearances in the majors this year, hes gone just 1-for-24 with four walks and four strikeouts. His numbers at Triple-A for Arizona and New Yorks affiliates, meanwhile, have been better but still lackluster as hes slashed .266/.316/.323 with an 11.5% strikeout rate. No one should be signing Lopez for his offense, but he still provides above-average defense and can be a decent contact-oriented pinch hitter. Thats enough to be a potentially useful bench piece, and with the trade deadline having come and gone it seems likely some team will sign Lopez as a depth option in the coming days. Hell likely be limited to minor league offers, but its po sible a team with a particularly thin infield mix could look to add him to their bench immediately in order to shore up their roster for the stretch run. The Yankees, for their part, have much le s of a need for that sort of infield depth after the club picked up , , and to transform their bench mix ahead of the deadline earlier this week. and remain on the 40-man roster as potential depth options, as well. Kyle Bradish Jersey