{"id":838191,"date":"2026-08-01T17:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T17:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/838191\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T17:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T17:19:08","slug":"red-sox-balk-at-marlins-asking-price-on-otto-lopez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/838191\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Balk At Marlins’ Asking Price On Otto Lopez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talks between the Red Sox and Marlins on shortstop Otto Lopez<\/a> didn\u2019t go anywhere and are \u201cdead\u201d at this point, Sean McAdam of MassLive.com reports<\/a>. McAdam adds that the Fish are understandably seeking a package headlined by \u201celite\u201d prospect(s) in order to part with the remaining three-plus seasons of control on Lopez, who leads the NL in batting and could find himself in consideration for a Gold Glove at shortstop this season. Kevin Barral of Fish On First writes<\/a> that Miami isn\u2019t actively looking to cash in on Lopez\u2019s breakout but is simply seeing if anyone will make the sort of offer they can\u2019t turn away. The Red Sox apparently aren\u2019t willing to do so.<\/p>\n

Lopez, 27, is one of the best waiver pickups in recent memory. The Blue Jays and Giants both designated him for assignment back in 2024. Miami scooped him up and initially used him as a utility player, but Lopez\u2019s role has continued to grow. He first settled in as a slick-fielding but light-hitting second baseman before flipping infield positions with then-shortstop Xavier Edwards<\/a> \u2014 a move that worked out for both players. Lopez continued delivering light offense and premium defense last year, but his bat has erupted in 2026.<\/p>\n

Through 463 plate appearances this season, the righty-swinging Lopez is hitting .322\/.356\/.481. He\u2019s sitting on a sub-14% strikeout rate for the second straight season and is hitting for more power on a rate basis than in past seasons. Lopez\u2019s nine home runs put him on pace for a similar home run total to last year\u2019s 15, but he\u2019s already smacked 27 doubles and seven triples this season \u2014 up from 21 and 0 in 2025, despite having 131 fewer plate appearances. Lopez\u2019s 22 steals (in 26 attempts) are already a career-high as well. Lopez currently ranks second among all position players in wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference. FanGraphs has him tied with Detroit\u2019s Kevin McGonigle<\/a> for fifth.<\/p>\n

The Marlins\u2019 exact ask for Lopez isn\u2019t clear, but the Sox have a pair of prospects in the sport\u2019s top 50. Right-hander Anthony Eyanson<\/a> is generally regarded somewhere in the No. 30-50 range, whereas shortstop Franklin Arias<\/a> is a consensus top-10 prospect in all of baseball; Baseball America ranks Arias as the game\u2019s No. 3 prospect. The Athletic\u2019s Keith Law ranks him fourth.<\/p>\n

Either prospect, particularly Arias, would be a hefty but understandable ask, given the extent of Lopez\u2019s breakout. It\u2019s fair to expect some of Lopez\u2019s offense to regress, given a huge .354 average on balls in play, but his low strikeout rate, above-average speed and plus glovework give Lopez an extremely high floor. Add in that he\u2019s not even arbitration-eligible yet and is under team control through the 2029 season \u2014 his age-30 campaign \u2014 and Miami is plenty justified in asking for multiple top-100 prospects or even a top-20 talent.<\/p>\n

The Marlins aren\u2019t operating as pure sellers this deadline, but they reportedly have very few players who are off the table entirely. The Fish aren\u2019t dealing face-of-the-franchise Sandy Alcantara<\/a> or fellow right-hander Eury P\u00e9rez<\/a>. Young catcher Joe Mack<\/a> is also all but untouchable, and righty Max Meyer<\/a> presumably isn\u2019t far behind. Beyond that, the Marlins appear open to at least hearing out interest<\/a> on just about anyone, even controllable players like Lopez, Edwards and catcher\/designated hitter Liam Hicks<\/a>. President of baseball ops Peter Bendix will set a lofty asking price on any of those long-term assets, however. Lopez, in particular, seems like a long shot to change hands.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox will presumably turn their focus to other shortstops, though they\u2019ve also reportedly been eyeing upgrades behind the plate. Their willingness to move Jarren Duran<\/a> signals that they\u2019re open to some changes in the outfield as well. Boston already swung one trade to add a right-handed bat, shipping left-hander Connelly Early<\/a> to Washington in exchange for breakout infielder Curtis Mead<\/a>, but Mead fractured his wrist in his Red Sox debut and now faces an extended absence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talks between the Red Sox and Marlins on shortstop Otto Lopez didn\u2019t go anywhere and are \u201cdead\u201d at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[410618,64,63,166108,591,106498,85],"class_list":["post-838191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-anthony-eyanson","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-franklin-arias","tag-mlb","tag-otto-lopez","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}