Jorge López apologizes to Mets, clarifies postgame comments

NEW YORK -- Former Mets reliever Jorge López 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, López wrote: “I had no intention of disparaging the New York Mets organization.”

López, 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 López’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, López 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 López’s Instagram post.

Before Thursday’s game, manager Carlos Mendoza declined to discuss details on why the team designated López 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 López for assignment on Thursday afternoon, have seven days to trade him or place him on outright or unconditional release waivers. Because of López’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 López on the roster and are already looking past the incident.

“I wasn’t happy,” Mendoza said, “but let’s move on.”