{"id":26633,"date":"2025-02-03T03:47:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T02:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?p=26633"},"modified":"2025-02-03T03:47:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T02:47:18","slug":"nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/cubs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chicago Cubs <\/a>have entered a Minor League deal with infielder Nicky Lopez. A source reported this, while the club has not officially confirmed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lopez spent the last MLB season playing in second base and shortstop for the Chicago White Sox. He batted .241 with a .606 OPS across 445 plate appearances. He has a .626 OPS across six major league seasons shared between the Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, and White <a href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/maldonado-accepts-1-year-deal-with-white-sox\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sox<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While he does not leave much mark at the plate, Lopez is a plus defender by outs above averaged. He gathered 5 OAA last season and had 53 OAA in the infield since the beginning of 2021. This record is fifth among all skilled infielders.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lopez could play a crucial role for the Cubs Opening Day match, especially with Nico Hoerner unclear after he had flexor tendon surgery on his right forearm on October 11th.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chicago will start their 2025 regular season in Tokyo, Japan, against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 18.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Cubs have entered a Minor League deal with infielder Nicky Lopez. A source reported this, while the club has not officially confirmed it.\u00a0 Lopez spent the last MLB season playing in second base and shortstop for the Chicago White Sox. He batted .241 with a .606 OPS across 445 plate appearances. He has a .626 OPS across six major league seasons shared between the Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, and White Sox. While he does not leave much mark at the plate, Lopez is a plus defender by outs above averaged. He gathered 5 OAA last season and had 53 OAA in the infield since the beginning of 2021. This record is fifth among all skilled infielders.&nbsp;&nbsp; Lopez could play a crucial role for the Cubs Opening Day match, especially with Nico Hoerner unclear after he had flexor tendon surgery on his right forearm on October 11th.&nbsp; Chicago will start their 2025 regular season in Tokyo, Japan, against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 18.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-sport-football-news","category-football-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal - Matchplug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As MLB teams and player prepare for the new season, Nicky Lopez has made a career move by joining the Chicago Cubs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal - Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As MLB teams and player prepare for the new season, Nicky Lopez has made a career move by joining the Chicago Cubs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-03T02:47:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-03T02:47:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-03T02:47:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-03T02:47:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\"},\"wordCount\":171,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Sport\",\"Football News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\",\"name\":\"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal - Matchplug Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-03T02:47:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-03T02:47:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"As MLB teams and player prepare for the new season, Nicky Lopez has made a career move by joining the Chicago Cubs.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"lopez\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"description\":\"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"width\":389,\"height\":218,\"caption\":\"Matchplug Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal - Matchplug Blog","description":"As MLB teams and player prepare for the new season, Nicky Lopez has made a career move by joining the Chicago Cubs.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal - Matchplug Blog","og_description":"As MLB teams and player prepare for the new season, Nicky Lopez has made a career move by joining the Chicago Cubs.","og_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/","og_site_name":"Matchplug Blog","article_published_time":"2025-02-03T02:47:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-03T02:47:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal","datePublished":"2025-02-03T02:47:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-03T02:47:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/"},"wordCount":171,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png","articleSection":["American Sport","Football News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/","name":"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal - Matchplug Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png","datePublished":"2025-02-03T02:47:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-03T02:47:18+00:00","description":"As MLB teams and player prepare for the new season, Nicky Lopez has made a career move by joining the Chicago Cubs.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png","width":700,"height":400,"caption":"lopez"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nicky Lopez joins the Cubs on a minor deal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","name":"Matchplug Blog","description":"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Matchplug Blog","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","width":389,"height":218,"caption":"Matchplug Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nicky-lopez-joins-the-cubs-on-a-minor-deal.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26633"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26640,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26633\/revisions\/26640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}