The Nationals announced that right-hander has cleared unconditional release waivers and is now a free agent. He was already off the 40-man roster, having been designated for a signment a few days ago. Heading back to the open market was the expected outcome once Lpez was designated for a signment. He is playing on a $3MM salary this year. Given that figure and his poor results this year, no club would be eager to take claim him off waivers. If the Nats had sent him outright to Triple-A, he has enough service time that he could have rejected that a signment and elected free agency. Hell now head to the open market and look for his next opportunity. Since the Nats released him, they remain on the hook for whats left of his salary. Any other club could sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum salary. That amount would be subtracted from what the Nats pay. It was that Washingtons decision to move on from Lpez wasnt strictly motivated by his performance, with manager Dave Martinez admitting that he Darick Hall Jersey was displeased with Lpez getting flustered by an umpires strike zone. Its not the first time that Lpez has drawn attention for losing his cool, as he had a with the Mets last year as well, throwing his glove into the stands. Though it was also reported at the time of that scene with the Mets that Lpez has dealt with a number of notable off-field i sues that may have exacerbated some mental health challenges. His son has apparently been in and out of hospitals with regularity due to several autoimmune disorders. The Mets let him go after that spectacle but the Cubs picked him up. He posted a 2.03 earned run average with Chicago the rest of the way, which likely helped him get his deal with the Nats. However, he has a 6.57 ERA so far this year. His 46.8% ground ball rate and 6.6% walk rate are strong but hes only striking out 16% of opponents. The ERA is probably at least somewhat misleading, as Lpez only has a 50.6% strand rate this year. ERA estimators like his 3.44 FIP and 3.99 SIERA suggest he has deserved better. Still, the declining strikeout rate is part of his mercurial career as a reliever. When he first moved to the bullpen with the Orioles in 2022, he punched out 27.6% of batters faced. After being traded to the Twins that summer, he stuck out just 17.6% of opponents. That mark stayed relatively low at 18.4% in 2023, jumped back up to 23% between the Mets and Cubs last year but is now down again. Ideally, Lpez will land somewhere that puts him in a good position mentally and helps him thrive on the field. If any Major League team thinks they can offer that, Lpez can be signed for e sentially no cost. Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images Jose Ruiz Jersey