Felipe Lopez

[TooLiveBrew]

After (personally) not hearing much about Lopez this offseason, I just stumbled across an update from MLBTradeRumors:

 

Mark DeRosa is off the board, and the Cardinals continue to await an answer from Matt Holliday. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sums up the Cards' other free agent targets in an article this morning.

 

Goold says the Cardinals are "known to have interest" in free agent infielder Felipe Lopez, who finished the '08 season with a bang in St. Louis. He was used in a super-utility role in his brief time there. Lopez had a fine 2009 (.310/.383/.427), but he's received little interest so far this winter. Last time around Lopez was scooped up by the D'Backs for $3.5MM on December 12th.

 

Goold also reminds us of two other free agent targets for the Cards: Xavier Nady and Jermaine Dye. It's unclear whether the Braves still have interest in Nady, while the Rangers are the team most often linked to Dye.

It's good the Brewers didn't offer Lopez arbitration, since he likely would have accepted. I don't mean that I dislike him as a player, but obv. money is very tight this offseason. I also would hate to see him sign with the Cards, but I have to admit that'd make a lot of sense.

[endaround]

2B and 3B are this years bumper crop of FAs like pitchers and all bat/no glove types were last year. You had a pool with Lopez, DeRosa, Figgins, Hudson, Beltre, Crede, Glaus, Feliz, and later Kelly Johnson. Just way too many players for few openings.

[TooLiveBrew]

The Goold article notes that Boras typically works down his list of clients in terms of prestige. Beltre & Lopez are on that list, so once Holliday finds a home, I'd look for them to sign.

[dadofandrew]

Doug could not take that chance, but once again, he shows he knows the market far better than most.

[Ennder]

I guess, I could see us having the worst 2B/SS/3B combo in baseball this year though so having Lopez wouldn't have been a disaster.

[carolinabadger]

I really wouldn't mind seeing us take a flier on lopez now and skip the extra pitcher.

He would come cheaper and if/when Rickie goes down we have very capable replacement.

Plus with the signing of Halama and possibly Mulder we have back up in case Soup implodes again.

[Hate those Rodents]

We won't be worse at SS than we were in 09. Whether McGehee (or Gamel) can match our 3B production from a year ago and whether Weeks can duplicate his first half and Lopez's second half at the plate remains to be seen.

[Crew2323]

While having Lopez would be nice, he would be an expensive bench player and he would be a luxury who would come at the expense of a team need. If the Brewers are counting on John Halama (who from what I can tell hasn't pitched in the majors since 2006), and Mark Mulder (who has pitched in a grand total of six games since 2007), then the Brewers are in trouble. Pitching remains a primary need for this team, and Melvin would be effectively ending his own tenure in Milwaukee if he signed Lopez at the expense of starting pitching.