Javy Lopez retires

[DrLev]

Former O's news, at any rate. Javy Lopez has retired from baseball after being cut by Atlanta. He gave us some good service, but I can't say I miss the guy at all.

LINK

[Avsfan]

Only good thing he EVER did in Baltimore, was that first game he played...he deposited Pedro's pitch over the left field wall

[threedaysrest]

Two things I'll remember about Mr. Lopez:

1. "The ball gets away from Javy Lopez."

2. If ever there was a malingerer in MLB, it was Mr. Lopez. He spent more time out of the lineup than any catcher in recent O's history.

[Boston Dave]

Two things I'll remember about Mr. Lopez:

1. "The ball gets away from Javy Lopez."

2. If ever there was a malingerer in MLB, it was Mr. Lopez. He spent more time out of the lineup than any catcher in recent O's history.

Not a catcher, but David Segui is the poster child for "out of the lineup."

[Snutchy]

Am I the only one who actually liked Javy? Respect. Good luck Javy. You are still the man.

[NewMarketSean]

Javy thought a little too highly of himself late in his career, but it is to be expected coming off a career year. You never think you're just 4 years away from being out of baseball when you hit 43 HR and have an average of .328.

IMO, Javy in Baltimore was just another reminder of what happens when you bring quality players into Baltimore and then they see the reality of what Baltimore is/was... a culture of losing. Look at Tejada, Mazzone... these guys were winners and the losing changed them.

Nothing that Javy ever said was really off the mark. OK, so maybe he wanted the O's to trade him before they signed Ramon so he could have played somewhere else... so he's being selfish... but what MLB player isn't a little selfish?

Javy played well for 2 years. He got injured in his second year and it was the fault of the O's to sign him to that third year. But in 2004 it was refreshing to see what a catcher who could hit looked like. Maybe it was just a coming attraction for what Wieters will do. Who knows.

But for all the crap Javy gets around here, he really doesn't deserve half of it. He came from the winningest franchise to one of the perennial losers. You can't execpt someone to stay happy with a situation like that. Especially when you're lead to believe that the losing is over.

It happened with Tejada.

So the bottom line is this.... who are you going to side with when players bash the O's? The Orioles? Who are one of the worst organizations in baseball? Or guys liek Tejada, Lopez, and Mazzone, who are proven winners?

I'm not picking the O's in this case... I know that.

[MikeAD]

Am I the only one who actually liked Javy? Respect. Good luck Javy. You are still the man.

I like him, I think he got a rough break.

The Orioles told him when they signed him they planned to get another Catcher, just as they told Tejada they were going to put a better team around him. Neither happened, Javy ended up catching too many games before Ramon came, and after Ramon came, Javy was too injured/banged up and he really had no way to show that he could play (although we all doubt that he actually could still play).

He was a good catcher who was fun to watch for a lot of years. And I think anyone is lying if they said they weren't happy when the Os first signed him.

[cindyluvsbrady]

I wish Javy all the best!!!

[Why Not?]

Javy winds up being example No. 3,452 for why not to sign an aging catcher to a fat contract.

[Mark Carver]

Javy winds up being example No. 3,452 for why not to sign an aging catcher to a fat contract.

It could have been worse, it could have been Ivan Rodriguez...

[RShack]

Am I the only one who actually liked Javy? Respect. Good luck Javy. You are still the man.

When it came to fundamentals, Javy was a very good C with a very average arm. From what I saw on my TV (both when he was with ATL and BAL), Javy was better behind the plate than Ramon... which is not about dissing Ramon, it's about the fact that I think Javy was way-underrated as a C. Ramon has a much better arm, no doubt about it. I think some folks confuse being a good catcher with having a good arm. These are two different things.

The guy was not a ball-of-fire, temperament-wise, he was much more of an even-keel kind of person. He didn't get too high or too low, he just stayed pretty much the same. Towards the end, putting Javy behind the plate sure helped Rodrigo pitch a few games like he used to pitch back when he pitched fine.

The year we got Ramon, two bad things happened: Javy got hurt, plus Sam failed to follow through in his plan to get Javy in games at 1B. Javy was willing and mostly-able (except for being hurt), and he did fine there in the WBC. Sam said he was gonna get him innings at 1B, but he just never did it.

A big part of what I saw here was that, the minute we got Ramon, a whole bunch of people starting piling on Javy. Part of getting Ramon should've been a good plan about how to best use Javy. The organization either didn't have one or, more likely, they did have one but never actually followed through with it. If you ask me, the whole thing was a shame.