Miami Marlins move on from a reliever

Neil Raymond

Jorge Lopez / Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/GettyImages

The Miami Marlins swept the Washington Nationals on the road today! It's also time to say goodbye to relief pitcher Jorge Lopez. It's not as surprising as The Fish not bringing in help on the waiver wire. There's also a better option already replacing him. So what went wrong for Lopez with The Fish? Was designating him for assignment the right call?

The Miami Marlins parted ways with relief pitcher Jorge Lopez.

Jorge Lopez failed as a Major League starting pitcher. He spent the early part of his career trying to crack rotations on multiple teams. He spent 2015-2018 with the Milwaukee Brewers; 2018-2020 with the Kansas City Royals and finally 2021 with the Baltimore Orioles trying to stick in their rotations. He was shuffled between the rotation and bullpen, and the results were not very promising to say the least.

What were Jorge Lopez's results? He produced a 6.04 ERA/5.15 FIP, with 7.6 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 102 games and 350.0 innings pitched. He didn't work out in other words. Baltimore moved him permanently to the bullpen last season, and that move paid dividends. Lopez took over their closer's role, as he delivered a 1.68 ERA/2.99 FIP, with10.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 44 games and 48.1 innings pitched.

In a surprise move, the playoff contending Baltimore traded him to the Minnesota Twins. With Minnesota, he delivered a 4.37 ERA/4.35 FIP, with 7.1 K/9 and 5.6 BB/9 in 23 games and 22.2 innings pitched. All of a sudden Baltimore's move looked borderline genius, as they sold high on a pitcher that looked like he has already seen his peak. It was more of the same for Lopez with Minnesota in 2023, as he pitched to a 5.09 ERA/5.92 FIP, with 6.9 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 37 games and 35.1 innings pitched.

The Miami Marlins acquired Jorge Lopez and he was dreadful. He pitched to a 9.26 ERA/5.32 FIP, with 6.2 K/9 and 6.9 BB/9 in 12 games and 11.2 innings pitched. Kim Ng had enough and waived him. Lopez will now pitch for the Baltimore Orioles again and won't be missed by his two prior teams.

Neil Raymond

Neil Raymond has been a lifelong Miami Marlins fan, with the 2003 playoff run being one of his favorite childhood memories. Neil has been called a "walking encyclopedia" for his knowledge of MLB statistics and the sport's history. He follows every game and actually invented his own statistic for player value on his side project BaseballAnalyzed.com. Writing for Fansided's Marlin Maniac since 2022, he also loves Fantasy Baseball and as such is an FSWA member. Neil also loves to travel, read and follow "Futbol" teams: Germany, Argentina, Greece, Inter Miami, Bayern Munich and NYC FC.