Lopez, Soroka to be a perfect marriage with White Sox new regime?

CHICAGO -- Nicky Lopez was informed by Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves' president of baseball operations and general manager, that he was part of a six-player deal sending him to the White Sox during the infielder’s rehearsal dinner on Thursday.

On the following afternoon, one hour before Major League Baseball’s non-tender deadline, Lopez got married in Rancho Mirage, Calif. And on the morning after his wedding, Lopez texted White Sox general manager Chris Getz about the American League Central being wide open for anybody to take.

Lopez looks forward to talking with Getz a bit more in the next week or two, but he liked the team’s direction shared by Getz in their brief post-trade exchange.

“Just the vision of playing hard baseball,” Lopez said over Zoom on Tuesday. “A hard 90, playing 110 percent, creating an identity that we’re going to play the game hard, [that] we’re going to do the little things right. We're going to pick it. We're going to throw it.

“All this stuff is obviously cliché when you're talking about winning baseball. But l've seen this team be really, really successful being across the diamond and playing against them for the last five years. And not many of it is different. The team is not different. … It's just maybe a cultural change, or maybe it's a change of the way that we believe in ourselves or think. Mentality is a big thing.”

The connection between Lopez and Chicago runs deep. The 28-year-old attended Naperville Central High School, approximately 35 miles west of Guaranteed Rate Field. His dad, Bobby Lopez, is a member of the 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame located in Forest Park, Ill.

Their family also was sitting in left field during Game 2 of the 2005 World Series when Paul Konerko’s go-ahead grand slam landed a few rows in front of them. They were there when Scott Podsednik’s walk-off home run off Brad Lidge gave the White Sox a 2-0 series edge over the Astros on the way to a four-game championship sweep.

So, returning to play for the White Sox brings Lopez full circle.

“If I was to go somewhere, why not go home,” Lopez said. “This has been a whirlwind but it’s been unbelievable. I grew up watching the White Sox.”

This trade, which sent left-hander Aaron Bummer to Atlanta, gives Lopez a chance to play in front of family and friends more often -- he’d already logged 99 career plate appearances over 26 games at the Rate as a member of the Royals. For right-hander Michael Soroka, who joined Lopez, lefty Jared Shuster, infielder Braden Shewmake and Minor League right-hander Riley Gowens as the return for Bummer, this move is simply about getting another significant chance as part of the starting rotation.

Soroka, 26, finished second in the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year voting and sixth in the NL Cy Young. But due to a myriad of injuries, including two separate tears of his right Achilles, he has thrown 32 1/3 innings since the end of the 2020 season. Soroka is currently throwing and feeling good, while feeling physically strong overall with his altered mechanics.

“They see my potential and everybody in the organization seems to be wanting to extract the most out of that right now and down the line,” Soroka said on Monday over Zoom. “I’m very excited to get to work. These people seem awesome.”

Adding Lopez provides strong defense across the infield for the White Sox. Adding Soroka helps begin to fill a depleted rotation that could use some depth.

Both of these hard-working, upbeat players feel aligned with the winning culture idea coming from Getz and manager Pedro Grifol.

“Pretty cool vision, actually,” Soroka said. “I kind of got giddy on the phone with [Getz]. And I spoke to Jared Shuster and it was pretty much the same with him. Having a former player that is at the helm kind of makes things a little easier from this player to GM relationship [standpoint].

“It sounds like he’s looking to make a team that is out there to compete to win every day. It’s a team that’s also ready to learn and to do what it can to get better.”