Jorge L¨®pez apologizes to Mets, clarifies postgame comments

NEW YORK -- Former Mets reliever Jorge L¨®pez apologized to his ¡°teammates, coaches, fans and front office¡± for his actions and comments following his ejection from the Mets¡¯ 10-3 loss to the Dodgers on Wednesday, which led to the club designating him for assignment.

In a Spanish-language Instagram post translated into English, L¨®pez wrote: ¡°I had no intention of disparaging the New York Mets organization.¡±

L¨®pez, who was ejected from the game for arguing a check swing with third-base umpire Ramon DeJesus, flung his glove into the Citi Field stands as he walked off the field. Afterward, he demonstrated no remorse for that action, saying in a postgame interview that he did not regret it.

Much of the controversy surrounding L¨®pez¡¯s interview stemmed from a debate over whether he had referred to the Mets as ¡°the worst team in the whole [expletive] MLB¡± or called himself ¡°the worst teammate in the whole [expletive] MLB.¡± In his Instagram post, L¨®pez clarified that he was referring to himself as ¡°the worst teammate,¡± which was a departure from what he told a club employee in Spanish immediately after the interview.

¡°Unfortunately, my efforts to address the media in English created some confusion and generated headlines that do not reflect what I was trying to express,¡± read the translated text of L¨®pez¡¯s Instagram post.

Before Thursday¡¯s game, manager Carlos Mendoza declined to discuss details on why the team designated L¨®pez for assignment, saying: ¡°We have standards here. I told you guys yesterday behaviors like that, we¡¯re not going to tolerate that. That¡¯s why we made the decision.

¡°When you¡¯re not playing well, guys will show emotions. There¡¯s frustrations. But there¡¯s a fine line, and yesterday, we went over that line. And we¡¯re not going to tolerate that.¡±

The Mets, who officially designated L¨®pez for assignment on Thursday afternoon, have seven days to trade him or place him on outright or unconditional release waivers. Because of L¨®pez¡¯s relatively low $2 million salary and competent results so far this season, including a 3.76 ERA in 28 appearances, he stands a reasonable chance of being claimed by another team.

But he has thrown his final pitch for the Mets. The club called up left-hander Danny Young to replace L¨®pez on the roster and are already looking past the incident.

¡°I wasn¡¯t happy,¡± Mendoza said, ¡°but let¡¯s move on.¡±