Nearly immediately after the deal was consummated, it was mostly a disaster. In 23 appearances after the deadline, Lopez posted a 4.35 ERA, 1.632 WHIP and a 90 ERA+. Not great or trustworthy, but enough to give him another opportunity in 2023… and things got worse (35.1 IP, 5.92 ERA, 1.274 WHIP, 84 ERA+).

Eventually, the Twins traded Lopez away to the Marlins for Dylan Floro. He later landed back with the Baltimore Orioles. It didn’t get any better with those teams. Then in the offseason, he signed with the New York Mets. On paper, 2024 has been his best season (26 IP, 3.12 ERA, 122 ERA+) since he was an All-Star in the first half of 2022.

Jorge Lopez’ no good, very bad day

Unfortunately, the New York Mets have been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball. They are 22-33 and 16 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. And it sounds like Jorge Lopez is not enjoying himself in the Big Apple.

After a rough outing that included a Shohei Ohtani homer, Lopez was tossed for arguing with a 3rd base umpire. Then on his way off the field, he tossed his glove into the stands.

Just an overall hilarious sequence of events

Jorge Lopez allows an absolute tank to Shohei Ohtani

Then gets tossed by the THIRD BASE UMPIRE arguing a check swing that was clearly the correct call

And then he proceeds to toss his GLOVE into the standspic.twitter.com/BkB8C0U7AS

— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) May 29, 2024

He then spoke with reporters in the locker room afterwards where he called the Mets “the worst team in probably the whole fucking MLB”. He was DFA’d within an hour of his interview hitting the internet.

Jorge López called the Mets "the worst team in probably the whole fucking MLB" pic.twitter.com/ezAsHH0rb6

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 30, 2024

Related: Twins Call Up Proven Big League Reliever Who’s Been Dominating in St. Paul

Jorge Lopez may not have enjoyed his time here in Minnesota as much as any of us would have liked. But one thing is official after today’s events. He definitely liked playing with the Twins more than he liked it with the Mets.

Bullpen Youth Movement

There are still plenty of questions surrounding the reliever staff, however, especially the veteran core… or lack thereof. See, last season, the Twins’ bullpen was hijacked by youngsters like Jhoan Duran and Griffen Jax, who went on to prove themselves far more reliable than any of the more experienced pitchers who were available to Rocco Baldelli.

jhoan duran turns 25 today.

he’s able to rent a car and throw nasty stuff. pic.twitter.com/A7wG7BjwtZ

— parker hageman (@HagemanParker) January 8, 2023

In 2023, a veteran presence in the bullpen is nearly non-existent. In fact, there are only three relief pitchers over the age of 30 who would be considered “locks” to make the final 26-man Opening Day roster (8 likely relievers).

No other projected 26-man reliever has reached the age of 30, or collected even two healthy years of service time in the big leagues. And the three veteran “locks” — Jorge Lopez (30), Emilio Pagan (32) and Caleb Thielbar (36) — have plenty of questions surrounding their effectiveness, going forward.

All Eyes on Jorge Lopez

Jorge Lopez is a starter-turned-reliever who has thrived in his new bullpen role. When I say “new”, I mean that Lopez has only pitched 148 innings out of the bullpen during his 7-year MLB career. He’s been good in those limited appearances, however.

In 273 innings as a starter from 2015-2021, Lopez was horrible. But after being transitioned to reliever by the Baltimore Orioles toward the end of 2021 (8 IP), he showed immediate improvement. Lopez took on a bullpen role for the Orioles full time in 2022 and made the All-Star game.

Mahtomedi native and Orioles pitcher Mike Baumann (currently at AAA) on new #MNTwins reliever Jorge Lopez: “Love that guy. Can’t say enough nice things. I really look up to Lopey. Unbelievable teammate, dawg on mound. Truly a leader on and off the field.”pic.twitter.com/PlYgWS1ApO

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) August 2, 2022

Then, the Twins traded for Lopez at last year’s midseason deadline. And of course, he immediately hopped aboard the struggle bus, upon arrival. In 22.2 IP as a Twin, Jorge’s ERA ballooned to 4.37, his FIP to 4.35, WHIP to 1.632 and his ERA+ fell below 100 (average), all the way down to 90.

If Lopez gets back to the All-Star caliber reliever Falvine thought they traded for, it could make the difference between Minnesota’s bullpen being good vs elite. If not, it’ll go down as one of the worst trades in Twins’ deadline history. And that’s saying something.

Caleb Thielbar & Emilio Pagan

Caleb Thielbar has become a trustworthy lefty that Rocco Baldelli can lean on. But… he’s 36-years-old and some of his numbers, like ERA, WAR and ERA+, have been slipping the last couple seasons. On the contrary, his strikeouts are up and his home runs, FIP and WHIP were all down.

After posting a 4.61 ERA, 85 ERA+ and 4.71 FIP in 148.1 innings over the last three season, nobody really knows why Emilio Pagan is still on an MLB roster. Twins fans just wish it didn’t have to be theirs…

Yet, here we are. Hopefully, Pagan’s leash is extremely short. Or, even better, the front office finds a way to trade Pagan (apparently there’s interest) for something worthwhile (maybe a bucket of balls) before baseball games start to count in late-March.

Emilio Pagan throws the ball down the middle of the plate and former twin Isiah Kiner-Falefa makes it a 5-2 Yankees lead, can’t make it up #mntwins, only his 2nd home run of the season pic.twitter.com/BB9RrF9U73

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) September 5, 2022

Other Veterans Relievers in Fort Myers

The only other reliever over 30 years old who has any real chance to make the roster out of Spring Training is LHP, Danny Coulombe (33). The last two over-the-hill bullpen pitchers with invites to Fort Myers are Jose De Leon (30) and Brock Stewart (31).

In other words, there are a lot of questions that surrounding a finite number of Minnesota Twins veteran relievers. If all goes as planned, just one pitcher over the age of 30 (Jorge Lopez) will be counted on to throw high- leverage innings this summer.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Jorge Lopez to Twins. Nice pickup.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 2, 2022

Full deal, per sources:

Minnesota gets: closer Jorge Lopez

Baltimore gets: LHP Cade Povich, RHP Yennier Cano, RHP Juan Nuñez and LHP Juan Rojas@JonHeyman was first with Lopez going to Minnesota

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 2, 2022

Jorge Lopez is the absolute perfect pickup for the Twins bullpen. The 29-years-old is under contract through 2024 and he’s been dominant this season, posting a 1.68 ERA, 0.972 WHIP, 2.99 FIP and an absurd 241 ERA+ in 48.1 innings pitched. Lopez’ arrival in the bullpen slides Duran down into the #2 role and Jax into the #3. That means less of Emilio Pagan, Tyler Duffey and most importantly, Joe Smith.

The aggressiveness of this splash also signals that the Minnesota Twins, while late to the deadline party, are looking to get tipsy before closing time. With 7 hours remaining until last call, Falvine still needs to find another solid bullpen arm and, most importantly, a front-rotation starting pitcher.

Package Details

Cade Povich is the #22 ranked prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB.com. Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic) ranked him #20 in the system, in a more updated post-draft prospect ranking, at the end of July. Povich is a 22-year-old, left-handed starting pitcher who’s had an up and down 2022 season at high-A Cedar Rapids.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan