Jose Lopez is packing his bags for the Mile-High City

The Mariners have traded INF Jose Lopez to the Rockies for RHP Chaz Roe. Approaching the deadline to tender/non-tender players it appeared that the Mariners would non-tender the 27 year old after a disappointing season. This turns out to be a smart move due to the fact that they planned on cutting ties with Lopez but now they will get something for him.



Chaz Roe



In Lopez’s last season for the Mariners he hit .239/.270/.339 with 10 homeruns and 58 RBI. A huge decline in his production compared to the previous year. He is no longer the Mariners problem anymore so let’s take a look at who the Mariners got in return.

The 24 year old righty Chaz Roe was drafted in the first round by the Rockies in the 2005 MLB Amateur Draft straight out of Lafayette High School (Lexington, Kentucky). He is stands at 6’5” weighing a mere 190 pounds. He was named Kentucky “Mr. Baseball” his senior year of High School.

He played all of last year at AAA where he posted some of his worst career numbers. He went 9-13 an ERA of 5.98 in 158.0 IP which was a career high for a season. He also recorded 115 strikeouts giving him a K/9 of 6.6. He has a career record of 42-38 with an ERA of 4.48 and a K/9 of 6.8.

Roe was thought to be one of the Rockies top pitching prospects upon being drafted but scouts are not as excited about him anymore after disappointing numbers. His fastball on average reaches the low 90’s. He also has a curveball and changeup in his arsenal but none of these pitchers appear to be helping him strike out batters as he has not been able to make batters swing and miss.

I’m not sure whether we will see him as a reliever or a starter. He hasn’t put up the best numbers as a starter but I think they give him a shot and then transition him into a reliever if things don’t go well.

I figure that he will be at AAA to start off the year where I will be able to watch him. I really hope he is able to turn it around with a new organization and we possibly see him in the bigs late this year or the start of next year.

As for Jose Lopez I wish him luck in Colorado and maybe he gets his career back on track in the hitter friendly ball park- Coors Field.

Now let's get ready for Winter Meetings!