Former Rule 5 pick of the Boston Red Sox, Javier Lopez, will get his shot with Boston, after all.
Lopez, drafted as a Rule 5 pick in December 2002 along with Matt White, a fellow lefty, was traded to the Colorado Rockies May 18th, 2003 for a player to be named later (Ryan Cameron). Lopez went on to post a 3.70 ERA in 58.1 IP for the Rockies. In 2004, he fell flat on his face to the tune of a 7.52 ERA in 40.2 IP, and was sent to AAA.
Matt White flamed out with an ERA of 27.00 in 3.2 IP before being traded to the Mariners and posting a 13.50 ERA in 2.0 IP for them. He surfaced again last year, posting a 9.00 ERA in 4.0 IP for the Washington Nationals.
In 2005, Lopez spent time with Colorado and Arizona. The sidearmer had a 22.50 ERA in 2 IP for the Rockies and was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks, where he sported a 9.42 ERA in 14.2 IP, but also a 2.22 ERA in 24.1 IP for Arizona’s AAA team. He signed as a minor league free agent with the White Sox, and has so far spent the majority of the 2006 season in the minor leagues. He sported an 0.55 ERA for the Charlotte Knights in 33 IP.
Riske has been marred by injury so far this year for the Red Sox, but had tossed 9.2 innings so far for a 3.72 ERA, making this a curious trade. Lopez in 2003 held lefties to a .823 OPS, but righties teed off him to the tune of a 1.192 OPS. Lopez is an effective lefty with a career as a Lefty One Out GuY (LOOGY) being crafted, but didn’t we get rid of Mike Myers because we didn’t need a LOOGY?
Apparently we do, so Lopez is back in that capacity, but Riske is a valuable middle reliever that was just never trusted in Boston. If given the chance, he would have likely outperformed Julian Tavarez.
Lopez is expected to be put on the Boston roster immediately, giving the Red Sox Holtz their first lefty since Lenny DiNardo and Mike were put on the DL.
One prevailing thought I have is this: Why David Riske for Javier Lopez? Why not call up Craig Breslow?
