(WSVN) – Mike DiPasquale: “He spent five seasons with the Marlins, was traded to Minnesota this past January, was an All-Star with the Twins. Minnesota went to the playoffs and had their first postseason win since 2004 and now we welcome to the show, Pablo Lopez. Always said you were one of the good guys, always spoke before and after games. Thanks for being here.”
Pablo Lopez: “Thank you very much for having me. These are pretty cool set up here and just very, very happy to be here.”
Mike Dipasquale: “And the winters down here are a lot different than in Minnesota?”
Pablo Lopez: “Yes, yes, very, very much different. I think it’s a good contrast being in Minneapolis for the season. Beautiful summer there, but when the cold stars, I think it’s a good, good, good idea to come down to South Florida.”
Mike DiPasquale: “Talk about that. How was your first season in Minnesota?”
Pablo Lopez: “It was good. It was good. Obviously, it was a lot different and Detroit happened so close to the season to spring training, where I was when the season started. I was going through that adjustment period but once I got over that hump really started to enjoy the season and enjoying going to the field and playing with my team.”
Mike Dipasquale: ‘You know, rarely is a trade, a win-win situation, but it is, in this case, it really was. You go to Minnesota, you’re an All-Star. The Marlins get Luis Arraez who’s the NL batting champion.”
Pablo Lopez: “Batting champion, Silver Slugger, All-MLB team. He’s gonna be all of that because he truly deserved it. I think you have to acknowledge and recognize how great of a job both organizations did, identifying the needs they were trying to cover, and they did that greatly. You know, Miami was always one good hitter away from really like, gluing that offense together.”
Mike DiPasquale: “Now we’re going to shift gears here just a little bit. A lot of people are playing this sport and on Thursday you have a pickleball event to support Paws4You. Tell us about the event.”
Pablo Lopez: “Yeah, so I will be hosting a pickleball event like you mentioned at Miami Shores Tennis Club. All proceeds will go to Paws4You, a local rescue shelter here in Miami and I think it’s just going to be a fun, fun event. You know, I have a big passion for tennis, for pickleball. I’m a dog lover and I think it’s just a very cool idea to come up with something like this where people can just gather around and we’re going to have like good baseball players there. We’re going to have some Marlins players, some Marlins TV reporters, community people. Luis Arraez will be there. Not a former teammate because I was never a teammate with him but he’ll be there. John Jay, the first base coach is actually a good friend of mine. He’ll be there. Jesus Luzardo will be there and then other friends like Luis Rengifo from the Los Angeles Angels and they’re very excited. Obviously athletic people, competitive people. They’re just looking forward to like, ‘Oh, I’ll be there and I’ll be ready to go.’ And we’re going to have food onsite, we’re going to have pet adoptions. So I think it’s just a really good combination of like a couple of passions of mine and my wife’s and we’re looking just to raise some awareness.”
Mike Dipasquale: Pablo, we appreciate you being here. Real quick, where can people go if they want to come to your event on Thursday?
Pablo Lopez: Miami Shores Tennis Club, that’s where the event will be hosted.
Mike DiPasquale: Also people may not know he knows a little bit of Italian. So I’ll say, Grazie.
Pablo Lopez: “Prego”
Mike Dipasquale: Thank you, Pablo.
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