The Turk

In the NFL, beat writers refer to “The Turk” whenever preseason cutdowns are orchestrated. There is nothing quite so colorful to describe a spring training cut in baseball, but the effect is the same. A spring training release can sometimes mean the end of a career—or a new opportunity.

Two spring releases have come as surprises this week. The first one involves the Rockies, who cut ties with Javy Lopez. At one point, Lopez was expected to battle Chris Ianetta for the starting catching job in Colorado. But Ianetta has played so well this spring that the Rockies decided he was ready, making Lopez and unwanted backup. Will Lopez sign on elsewhere? There’s a crying need for backup catchers in both leagues (the Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays, Astros, and Padres could all use veteran receivers), but Lopez wants to start and says he will only take a backup job with the Braves, his former team. Given his conditions, Lopez may find himself retired very shortly. If that’s the case, Lopez leaves the game with borderline Hall of Fame statistics but has almost no chance of reaching Cooperstown because of his reputation as a subpar defensive catcher. In many ways, he’s the Ted Simmons of the 1990s and 2000s, appreciated by statheads but underrated by the mainstream press.

The other release involves a younger player who will almost certainly find work—and quickly. The Mets parted ways with Alay Soler, the Cuban right-hander who showed flashed in 2006. I hear the Mets did this for cost-cutting reasons, since Soler was expected to earn $600,000 in Triple-A, but that strikes me as odd given New York’s status as a major market spender. For a team that has major questions with its fourth and fifth starters, Soler would have been a nice insurance policy at Triple-A New Orleans. Instead, he’ll take his right arm to Washington or some other pitching-poor team, of which there are several.