New York Mets reliever Jorge López apologized to his teammates, coaches, fans and front office’’ for his actions and comments. López’s words he was ejected from the Mets’ 10-3 defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, led to the team designating him for assignment.
In an Instagram post written in Spanish-language, López wrote: “I had no intention of disparaging the New York Mets organization.”
López was sent out of the match for arguing a check swing with third-base umpire Ramon DeJesus. He flung his glove into the Citi Field stands as he left the field. Afterward, López showed no remorse for that action, saying in a post match interview that he had no regrets.
Much of the backlash surrounding his interview came from a debate whether he had referred to the Mets as “the worst team in the whole [expletive] MLB” or called himself “the worst teammate in the whole [expletive] MLB.” In his post, López clarified that he was referring to himself as “the worst teammate,” which was a shift from what he told a team official in Spanish immediately after the interview.
“Unfortunately, my efforts to address the media in English created some confusion and generated headlines that do not reflect what I was trying to express.” This is what the translated text of López’s Instagram post read.
Before Thursday’s match, manager Carlos Mendoza refused to discuss why the club designated López for assignment, stating: “We have standards here. I told you guys yesterday behaviors like that, we’re not going to tolerate that. That’s why we made the decision.
“When you’re not playing well, guys will show emotions. There’s frustrations. But there’s a fine line, and yesterday, we went over that line. And we’re not going to tolerate that.”
The Mets, who officially designated Jorge for assignment on Thursday afternoon, have seven days to trade him or place him on outright or unconditional release waivers. He has a good chance of another club signing him because of his relatively low $2 million salary and effective results so far this campaign, including a 3.76 ERA in 28 appearances.
But López has thrown his last pitch for the New York Mets. The club chose left-hander Danny Young to replace him on the roster and have already moved past his outbursts.
Mendoza said, “I wasn’t happy, but let’s move on.”
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