Chicago Cubs Sign Controversial Reliever After His Unusual Release

The Chicago Cubs have agreed to bring the reliever in on a minor league deal.

May 20, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Jorge Lopez (52) stands on the mound in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Cubs are adding to their bullpen depth and have agreed to sign Jorge Lopez to a minor league deal, per The Athletic.

Lopez was recently released by the New York Mets on June 5th after designating him for assignment on May 30th.

He signed a one year deal with the Mets in the offseason, and had been pretty solid to start the year.

In his first 25 appearances, the right-hander had thrown 24 innings to the tune of a 2.25 ERA with 17 strikeouts, but faced some problems with walks, issuing 10 free passes. Despite that, he had been what they gave him $2 million dollars to be.

However, starting with an outing against the San Francisco Giants on May 24 in which he gave up one run, things took a turn. Over his next two outings he surrendered five runs in 1.1 innings, culminating in him throwing his glove into the stands after an ejection.

In his post game media session, Lopez made some comments that got misconstrued, and he was DFA'd the next day.

The 31-year-old has had an up and down season, especially as of late, but he did show signs of getting back to his All-Star form.

The start of Lopez's career was met with a lot of struggling, out of the both the rotation and bullpen.

Over the first 350 innings of his career, he had a cumulative ERA of 6.04 with three different teams. Then, in 2022, he broke out and showed dominance out of the bullpen for the Baltimore Orioles.

In 44 games, Lopez posted a 1.68 ERA with a 10.1 K/9 and 19 saves before being traded at the deadline to the Minnesota Twins.

His arrival in Minneapolis was met with immediate regression and he pitched to just a 4.37 ERA the rest of the year. He was not good again in 2023 for the Twins and was then sent to the Miami Marlins, where it all fell apart and he had a 9.26 ERA before being released and re-signing with Baltimore to end the year.

It looked like things were beginning to turn back around for the veteran before a couple bad outings.

Now after signing this deal with the Cubs, he will go to the minor leagues and have an opportunity to prove that the start to his season wasn't just a fluke.