The Rangers announced the signing of utility infielder Nicky Lopez to a major league contract. The CAA client is active for tonight’s game against the Astros and draws right into the lineup as the second baseman against Mike Burrows. Texas designated Andrew McCutchen in a corresponding move.
McCutchen signed a minor league deal midway through Spring Training. He’d seemingly hoped to return to the Pirates for what would’ve been the fourth season of his late-career second act in the Steel City. The Bucs didn’t appear to reciprocate that interest, and the writing was officially on the wall when Pittsburgh signed Marcell Ozuna to a $12MM free agent deal.
Cutch had a big Spring Training to nail down a roster spot, locking in a $1.25MM salary in the process. He was in the starting lineup on Opening Day as the designated hitter against Philly southpaw Cristopher Sánchez. Texas used McCutchen mostly in a short side platoon capacity, splitting his time between DH and the corner outfield. He hasn’t hit in a fairly small sample, batting .192 with one home run over 83 trips to the plate.
It’s the fourth straight year in which McCutchen’s numbers have declined. The five-time All-Star had been close to a league average bat over 551 plate appearances with the Bucs last season. McCutchen still has an elite understanding of the strike zone, but he’s whiffing at a career-high rate this year without hitting for any kind of power.
Texas has five days to trade McCutchen or place him on waivers. He’d be able to decline a minor league assignment while retaining his salary, so the likeliest outcome is that he’ll be released this week. He’d then be available to other teams for the prorated league minimum salary, assuming he wants to continue playing.
Lopez was designated for assignment by the Cubs last week. He cleared outright waivers and elected free agency just yesterday. It didn’t take long for his camp to find him another MLB deal. Lopez’s club debut tonight will be his sixth team at the big league level. He spent his first few seasons with the Royals and has bounced around since the end of the 2022 season.
A light-hitting infielder, Lopez has a .245/.309/.310 slash line in nearly 2400 career plate appearances. He was on the Cubs’ MLB roster for a month but didn’t start a game, only making four appearances off the bench. Lopez has graded as a plus defender at second and third base over his career. Public metrics are more split on his shortstop work, but the 31-year-old can play the position if necessary.
Texas has used a middle infield pairing of Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue over the past few weeks. They’ve been without second baseman Josh Smith since the beginning of May and lost Corey Seager a couple weeks ago. Foscue has hit pretty well but isn’t viewed as a particularly strong defender. He had a pivotal throwing error on Sunday night that allowed the Angels to complete a sweep with a walk-off win.
Foscue is out of the lineup tonight but could split DH time with Joc Pederson if the Rangers want Lopez in there as a defensive upgrade. Seager and Smith each seem at least a couple weeks away, but the out-of-options Lopez could be pushed off the roster once either or both of those players return.
