Earlier this season, former beat writer Jeffrey Flanagan, now unfettered from his beat responsibilities, let loose with some opinions on his time covering the Royals. In particular, he had thoughts on how the fanbase treated Nicky Lopez, going from excoriating the Royals for not calling him up despite some flaws to his game, to turning on Nicky when his bat became an obvious black hole in the lineup. Flanagan called on fans to “appreciate him” for being an “incredible defender.”
Final words on Nicky Lopez: Judge him on the player he is, not on the player you begged him to be as “the savior” on Royals Twitter in 2019.