Roman Quinn is out, Yoan Lopez is in

The team made a move yesterday, designating Roman Quinn for assignment and claiming Yoan Lopez off of waivers from the Braves.

First, let’s tackle Lopez. Last year in Arizona, he pitched in 12 ¹⁄₃ innings, throwing to a 6.57 ERA (5.68 FIP) with rather pedestrian peripherals. He struck out only 21.3% of hitters, walking 9.8% of the ones he faced. He saw some bad luck creep into his outings, which a .385 BABIP can attest to, but some of the luck he had was of his own creation, allowing home runs on 21.4% of the fly balls hit against him. He throws a four-seam fastball and a slider, neither of which particularly stand out from a velocity or movement standpoint, meaning he’s not much more than a bottom of the roster arm that can still be shuffled between the majors and minors.

In other words, he’s depth. Nothing more, nothing less.

The name heading out, Roman Quinn, is one that can tug at the heartstrings a little.

As fragile as a Fabergé egg, Quinn has only one real standout weapon: his speed. Consistently ranking in the top percentiles in sprint speed, going down to an Achilles’ injury is simply devastating to a player of Qunn’s profile. That speed can be truly game changing, but when you’re never in a game to change it, it mutes that tool.

Even though some will be sad to see him go, he didn’t really have a place here. Designating him for assignment kind of saves Joe Girardi from himself, not letting him talk himself into keeping Quinn on the team. It also allows Quinn to be able to go find a possible job with a team deep enough to be able to use a roster spot in the hopes he is recovered enough to utilize that speed once again, but the Phillies simply aren’t in that position. As bad as their bullpen depth has been in the past few years, adding an arm that might help them there makes more sense at this point than does holding a spot for Quinn.

Godspeed, Roman. Hopefully wherever you go, you have better luck with your health than you did here.