Report: Reeling Mets to cut Lopez after ejection
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — The Mets held a players-only team meeting Wednesday night after getting swept by the Dodgers with a 10-3 loss that included another late-inning bullpen implosion and reliever Jorge Lopez throwing his glove into his stands after being ejected.
The score was tied at 3 heading into the eighth inning before the Dodgers scored six times off three relievers. One was Lopez, who surrendered a two-run homer to Shohei Ohtani then fell behind 3-1 to Freddie Freeman before taking issue with third-base umpire Ramon De Jesus’ ruling on a check swing. The argument earned Lopez an ejection.
Lopez untucked his jersey and threw his glove over the netting into the crowd as he walked off the field. He did not display any remorse after the game.
“No, I don’t regret it,” Lopez said.
Lopez continued: “Whatever happened, happened. I’ll be here tomorrow if they want me. Whatever they want to do. I’m going to keep doing this thing, you know. I’m healthy. … I’m ready to come back tomorrow if they want me to be here. So I’ll be here.”
Lopez labeled the dispute between him and De Jesus a “misunderstanding.”
“Just something out of emotions,” Lopez said, “I just don’t give a f— [about] anything.”
After the game, the Mets began the process of designating Lopez for assignment, according to The Associated Press. They will have seven days to trade or release him, or send him outright to the minors.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he had not yet talked to Lopez about his behavior when he met with reporters.
“Whenever you’re going through a stretch like this, you want to see some emotions from players, anybody in here,” Mendoza said. “But what we saw today out of Lopey, that’s not acceptable. And we will address that internally here.”
Shortstop Francisco Lindor called for the players-only meeting while Mendoza addressed the media in attempt to rally the team to reverse course.
The Mets, now 22-33, are 16 games out of first place in the National League East and six games out of the final wild-card spot. They have dropped seven of eight games and 13 of 16. Several of the defeats, including two of the three against the Dodgers this week, included bullpen meltdowns late.
Lindor said the meeting, which lasted over 30 minutes, was an opportunity for players to speak up and hold one another accountable. It also came after the team placed closer Edwin Diaz on the injured list with a shoulder impingement earlier Wednesday then lost slugger Pete Alonso to a hand injury after he was hit by a pitch against Los Angeles.
“It was good for everybody,” Lindor said. “A lot of players talked. That’s really good. A lot of knowledge was dropped. Now we just got to put it together.”
The Mets have 107 regular-season games remaining, but the reality is the team has two months to convince president of baseball operations David Stearns to not trade players before the July 30 deadline. Stearns on Tuesday said the deadline will be “an inflection point in the season.”
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
The Washington Nationals demoted All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams to the minor leagues after he stayed out all night at a Chicago-area casino, leaving only hours before a Friday day game against the Chicago Cubs, sources told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
The 23-year-old Abrams led off for the Nationals and went 0 for 3 with a walk and strikeout in Friday’s game, which started at 1 p.m. CT. He was informed of the demotion Friday night, sources said. He will be sent to West Palm Beach, home of the Nationals’ minor league complex.
Because Abrams has been with Washington for the entirety of the season, the demotion will not affect his service time. Players earn a full year of service with 172 days on the major league roster, and Abrams already has exceeded that threshold.
Abrams could, however, file a grievance through the Major League Baseball Players Association to fight for lost pay if he believes the demotion unjust. He would lose around $30,000 of his $752,000 salary for missing the season’s final week. Abrams will be arbitration-eligible this winter, entering the system for the first of four times as a Super 2.
Acquired as one of the centerpieces of the Juan Soto trade two years ago, Abrams parlayed a breakout first-half into an All-Star selection, hitting .268/.343/.489 with 15 home runs and 15 stolen bases over the Nationals’ first 89 games. He struggled significantly in the second half, slashing .203/.260/.326, and Abrams’ defense has been a weakness throughout the season.
Still, the Nationals did not intend to send him to the minor leagues until they learned of his time spent at the casino, which was first reported Friday by CHGO.
“I just want it to be known it wasn’t performance-based,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez told reporters Saturday. “It’s an internal issue. I’m not going to give specifics.”
CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson defensive end Peter Woods will not play for the 21st-ranked Tigers against NC State on Saturday because of a leg injury.
The team announced Woods’ status about 90 minutes before kickoff. Woods, 6-foot-3, 315 pounds, got hurt two weeks ago on a chop block below the knee in a 66-20 victory over App State. Woods came back in briefly after getting checked then missed the second half.
The Tigers were off last weekend.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has said Woods’ playing status was day-to-day. Swinney said Woods had not missed a practice. But Woods came out to the field for warmups in sneakers and sweatpants while other defensive linemen went through drills.
Woods leads the Tigers with 2½ tackles for loss.
Third-year sophomore Jahiem Lawson is listed as Woods’ backup on the depth chart.
NC State will be without starting quarterback Grayson McCall, who was hurt last week in a win over Louisiana Tech. Freshman CJ Bailey started for the Wolfpack.
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Utah quarterback Cam Rising is a game-time decision with an injury to his throwing hand, sources told ESPN, with the expectation that he will attempt to start.
No. 12 Utah plays at No. 14 Oklahoma State on Saturday, one of the biggest games of the season in the Big 12.
Rising has been limited in practice this week with the injury, and he is not expected to be 100% if he does play. He will be monitored closely to see how his injured fingers impact how he throws. The fingers play a huge role in both spin and velocity, which will impact his effectiveness in the passing game.
He injured his hand Sept. 7 against Baylor in the second quarter when he threw a ball away and was pushed out of bounds and landed awkwardly on the water coolers on the Bears sideline.
Rising warmed up with a glove on his hand before last week’s game against Utah State but did not play, and he was spotted with two fingers wrapped on the sideline against Baylor. It’s uncertain if he will use the glove on Saturday.
Utah’s offense plays a majority of its snaps under center and uses clapping as a mechanism in its snapping operation, which would both stress the fingers.
Backup quarterback Isaac Wilson is a true freshman who made his first career start against Utah State, going 20-of-33 passing for 239 yards and three touchdowns. He took first-team reps in practice this week when Rising wasn’t out there.
Wilson is the brother of former BYU quarterback Zach Wilson, who now plays in the NFL for the Denver Broncos.
Rising is a seventh-year senior who had emerged as one of the Pac-12’s top quarterbacks in 2021 and 2022. He has been snakebit by injuries in recent seasons, as an injury in the Rose Bowl following the 2022 season ultimately led to him missing the entire 2023 season.
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