Cut comments, #1, Mickey Lopez
In the interest of getting this year’s chapter in without it looking like a new translation of the Iliad, I cut a lot of player comments from my submitted Prospectus M’s chapters. I’ve been thinking of posting a couple of them here, since as unsubmitted material for players who won’t go into the book, they’re copyright me and don’t compete with the book in any way. I won’t put stat lines or anything with them, since that’s BP IP.
Mickey Lopez 2B Bats: B Throws: R Born: 17-Nov-1973 Age: 31
Mickey Lopez got to the major leagues after many, many years of being a minor league mercenary of some usefulness, and so the team tried to sneak him enough at-bats for him to get a hit. He almost didn’t make it: he got beaned, he got walked… and on October 3rd, he got his first, and possibly last, major league hit, on an infield single. It’s always nice to see good things happen to those who appreciate them. Lopez doesn’t have a bright future, but his face sure lit up that day.
Comments
37 Responses to “Cut comments, #1, Mickey Lopez”
Very nice. Did you have to cut any from the other team you did? What was that team, the Mets?
How was it decided what players made the book and which didn’t?
You perfectly summed up Mickey Lopez’s career and moment … which amount to about the same thing. One wonders if he’ll stay in the organization in some capacity after his playing days are done.
Generally, everyone on the 40-man roster, plus 15-25 guys in the minors. The list is decided through a discussion with the editors, which means there are guys in the chapter that I really wanted to write about, and guys the editors thought had to make it in. There’s also an element of horse-trading: sometimes, you swap guys on the 40m who aren’t important for guys in the minors you really want to write about.
Like Masao Kida’s not in the chapter, though I really liked his comment and he did pitch some for the team. Wiki Gonzalez might get cut now because they’re going to field Olivo/Wilson because my chapter’s still long.
On the Expos: I’m actually not sure. I was much better about keeping my comments from being mini-essays there, and didn’t have to cut whole playeres so much. I might turn one up.
More, please.
For what it’s worth — not that I’m terribly excited about seeing Lopez’s BP stats — I don’t believe that the stats, even if “proprietary” to BP, are BP’s intellectual property … ideas/facts are not protected by copyright, only the particular author’s expression. I would think you could list the stats for Lopez, so long as you weren’t bound by some kind of “terms of use”/quasi-NDA provisions in your employment/consulting agreement with BP, an attachment thereto, or some other separate agreement. None of this is legal advice, of course, and you would want to seek out a qualified legal opinion on these matters, blah blah blah.
The stat lines include park translations and projections, which are not facts and are BP IP.
This does seem to be a pretty free translation from the Greek.
What was your Masao Kida and Wiki Gonzalez comment?
Mr. Corcoran, this is just a shot in the dark, but patience is not your strong point, is it?
They’re coming.
Also, it is good that you didn’t make any snide comments about Lopez, like a lot of Baseball Prospectus does about a lot of crummy players (my only complaint about the book). You just can’t knock the guy. Although more guys desereved that Sept callup, the guy deserved it.
No. It’s not. I get impatient very quickly. I am frantic right now too, about the Wonderfully Sweet Haltime Outcome of the Boise State Low-i-vull game.
I would have tried to write something similar, were I in that position. I don’t have a particularly high opinion of M. Lopez as a player, but he deserved something in the big leagues, even if he’ll probably be only remembered as the guy who was playing second base when A-Rod started playing short at Westminster Christian.
(Still wish they had given Zapp a shot, though)
Oh, and it was also good of you to NOT make mention of the little fact I just did 😉
I too look forward to seeing the rest of them (at your convenience, of course–I have plenty of other things to be impatient about 🙂 ).
OT – (Is it?) – A while back, 24% of those responding to a national poll said YES; 25% said NO; and 51% called in to say that they had no opinion.
DMZ, I’d guess that MICKEY LOPEZ has your comments framed.
I, too, thought Zapp deserved a shot. If you ask Zapp, and I did, he said the club told him it was a PT thing not a strikeout thing.
Evidently, Zapp didn’t really help himself as far as his relationship with the team goes. Apparently he wasn’t taking very well to adjustments that were strongly suggested by the organization and fell out of favor because of it.
Shame. The guy can hit the ball a long ways including the first ever shot over the center field dragon at Cheney Stadium. 45 years and Zapp was the first. It was a bigtime tee shot off Joe Blanton.
Zapp is a pretty darned cool dude too.
Derek is probably smart enough to realize that criticism of minor leaguer players has its limits. Heck, I’d give my (insert valuable item or body part here) to play a year in the minor leagues.
Good stuff, look foward to seeing the rest.
I’ll be in my hole if anyone needs me. 🙁
I think that it’s pretty clear why certain crappy players get ripped. Just take a look at Willie Bloomquist. Why is he so disliked by many of us? He hasn’t done anything or said anything that warrants criticism and I’m sure he’s a very nice guy. The problem is that so many inside and outside of the organization have an inflated opinion of him that is unwarranted, and that really irks us. That opinion has resulted in him being seen as a prospect in the minors and getting a lot of playing time in the majors. If instead he had toiled in the minors for the last 3 years before getting a cup of coffee this September and then getting unceremoniously cut from the 40-man, we’d look at him differently. Rather than viewing him as an overrated joke wasting a roster spot, we’d see him the same way we look at Mickey Lopez, as a good story. This type of thinking is hardly unique to BP.
True.
I’ve said this before, but — I always try and make it clear that my issues are with the organization and not the player. I get frustrated sometimes by guys like Brian Hunter who don’t care to make the most of their ability, for whatever reason (walks? get out of here with that) but I know that the best athletes I’ve ever played baseball against didn’t make it past the low levels of baseball. I may get annoyed that Bloomquist will come out and say the Mariners should give him a starting job, when I think they should release him, but that’s no big deal.
As a major league scrub and roster problem, Bloomquist is a better player than anyone I’ve ever played with or against, and I try not to forget that. He may suck compared to Barry Bonds, but he doesn’t flat out suck — no one at that level really does.
Bloomquist has said the Mariners should give him a starting job? Release the g*****n ***
W/R/T Westminster Christian (# 12): I see that SF drafted EDDY MARTINEZ-ESTEVE out of Florida State in 2004’s 2nd round . The Mariners had drafted him–but failed to sign him–in 2002’s 3rd round. (I assume that he spent two years at Florida State.)
Can someone explain this–or point me to a link that does. How many years must pass before an unsigned draftee can be drafted again? I assume that there are the different requirements if the draftee (a) attends a 4-year college, (b) a 2-year college, (c) attends no college at all?
DJC: He feels he deserves the chance to start, and that he’s proved he deserves it. This isn’t Derek Bell’s “Operation Shutdown” or anything.
Trade him to Arizona. We can get Alex Cintron in exchange I am sure. BoMel’ll let him start.
re: 23
The requirements are basically that those players who are in a 4-year institution can be drafted in their junior year. If they are drafted, or even undrafted, they can choose to remain with their institution for another year and be drafted as a senior.
Those who attend a community or junior college can be drafted at any time while they’re attending. There are no requirements.
Those players who have no school (and this happens periodically) can be put on a list of possible players to be drafted during that year’s draft. If they aren’t selected, they can be signed as a non-drafted, and the same theory can be applied to other players.
Those players attending a four-year school are no longer eligible to sign after attending their first class. This applies to returning students, new students, and transfers. However, a player who is moving to a two-year school can be signed up until the next year’s draft.
I think that’s the basic jist of it, but I think there are more complicated matters and numbers within that, and these guys could probably explain those a little better.
re: Bloomquist
I think he also made reference to the fact that he was entering the prime years of his career. Watch out major league pitchers!
J,
There are also draft-eligible sophomores. They aren’t that common, but there’s usually a couple every year who get picked relatively highly. Martinez-Esteve falls into this category. Any player who turns 21 within 45 days of the draft and has completed two years at a four year university is eligible to be drafted.
Re # 27: TNX.
Re # 28: That must be it. EDDY MARTINEZ-ESTEVE had just completed two years on 5/31/04 *, and the Draft was held on 6/7/04.
(BTW, who can blame the Ms for not signing EDDY in 2002? No sense in adding to our eventual glut of outfielders, now including RANDY and RAUL–and WILLIE can play OF too.)
________
*The Florida State school year ends rather early.
Thanks Dave, that whole thing was bothering me because I couldn’t figure out how Esteve was eligible and Mayberry wasn’t.
W/R/T MAYBERRY: He’s a junior at Stanford now, so is eligible for the 2005 draft.
Dave, where do you see him going?
(BTW, EDDY MARTINEZ-ESTEVE was promoted from Hagerstown (a) to
San Jose (A), where he had an OPS of 1.026. (Very small sample.)
[If he makes the Majors, he should wreak more havoc with box scoreS than CARL YASTRZEMSKI did.]
Mayberry is considered a good bet to go in the first round right now. Of course, it’s pretty common for players to really have their stock slide after a mediocre performance, so this is a preliminary guess. With a good year, he could break into the top ten.
Esteve’s not anything near Yaz as a hitter, and he’s pretty freaking awful in the field. Yea, the M’s shouldn’t have spent a 3rd round pick on a guy they weren’t going to sign, but this isn’t some catasrophe that cost us a hall of famer.
Dave, I think John only meant in terms of the length of his (EME’s) name…
My favorite box score ruining last name at this point is Saltalamacchia. Just call him Salty…
From what I remember, Martinez-Esteve also had some sort of leg injury during college that has been hampering his ability on the field. Not like he was great when we drafted him, but as Dave said, he’s pretty awful now.
Saltalamacchia!
Now there’s a great name. Jump the stain. I love it.
#29 – May 31 isn’t early at all for a college school year to end in the south (especially for schools on the semester system). Actually I’d say May 31 is relatively late. Many of these schools wrap things up by early-mid may. The great advantage is that you can get the entire fall semester in before Christmas break. The (huge) downside of this is that you’re starting fall semester in early-mid august. Obviously, schools on the quarter system don’t have these particular scheduling issues.
I think Mickey got a raw deal. I cannot understand how a ballplayer can receive the MVP award and the Golden Glove award and some how getover looked. I really beleive that he would be a great asset to any club his stats are there and he has proven himself over and over again a fast runner a great infielder and I don’t believe anyone knows the pressure that guy had when called up to the bigs. Having a major tragedy in his life losing his niece to a freak blood disease in one week being called up the next and getting his first major league hit. He is not only a good ball player but a great guy he should have been called up a long time ago. It is a shame they let guys like this slip throgh the cracks. Yet I am glad to see such great guy finally make it to the show I can’t wait to see if they keep him after spring training. The Mariners could use a good in fielder.