Being the 4th best team in their division I would think they would want to accumulate as much talent as possible like Lopez who won't break the bank like a Soto would. Just seems strange.
Maybe, but Lopez is 29 and arb-eligible. He's not going to be cheap for very long, especially relative to the number of innings.
There's an element of self-scouting in this, too. I've not kept track day to day, but did the bullpen suffer a wave of blown saves this month? They may have known they had adequate depth and that the sell-high time for a closer is the deadline.
