Pablo Lopez suffered a Grade 2 pressure of his proper teres main muscle in early June, and the Twins right-hander has now missed a bit over 10 weeks of motion. This places him throughout the projected 8-to-12 week timeline initially hooked up to his restoration, and Lopez has steadily been taking steps in the direction of a September return, together with 5 bullpen classes and a simulated inning. The following step comes tomorrow, as Lopez advised reporters (together with Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Minneapolis Star Tribune) that he’ll face stay hitters for the primary time over two simulated innings.
Ought to all go nicely on Friday, Lopez will advance to a Spring Coaching-esque schedule of an extra inning each 5 – 6 days. It may be assumed a minor league rehab task shall be a part of this plan given how a lot time Lopez has missed, however is aiming to be again in Minnesota’s rotation by early September.
For the reason that Twins had a digital fireplace sale of their roster on the commerce deadline and solely faintly stay in wild card competition, it isn’t doubtless that Lopez shall be returning to any significant video games. Nevertheless, Lopez isn’t in any respect contemplating a shutdown, as he’s intent on making “4 or 5, perhaps six begins” in what stays of the 2025 marketing campaign.
“As a result of time permits, I need to do it. Additionally, peace of thoughts,” Lopez stated. “I would like to have the ability to inform myself I used to be in a position to come again from this damage and pitch and carry out on the degree I do know I can carry out.”
Between this shoulder pressure and a minimal 15-day absence attributable to a hamstring pressure in April, Lopez has been restricted to solely 60 2/3 innings this season. This injury-riddled yr has interrupted a string of workhorse performances for Lopez, who tossed 559 1/3 IP over the 2022-24 seasons — the seventh-highest innings complete of any pitcher in baseball over that three-season span.
The righty additionally posted a 3.83 ERA over that span, and the bottom-line outcomes have been even sharper this yr since Lopez had a 2.82 ERA throughout his 60 2/3 frames in 2025. The Twins have been already impressed sufficient by Lopez’s first season in Minnesota to signal the righty to a four-year, $73.5MM extension in April 2023 that covers the 2024-27 seasons. He’s set to earn $21.5MM in every of the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
Speculatively talking, it’s price questioning if Lopez and the Twins may very well be viewing any September begins as an audition for potential commerce suitors. Lopez and Byron Buxton are Minnesota’s highest-paid gamers now that Carlos Correa has been dealt to the Astros, and Buxton has already made it clear that he received’t be waiving his no-trade safety. That leaves Lopez as essentially the most pure candidate for a commerce if the Twins proceed to discover payroll cuts, and some extra outings in 2025 would additionally present some proof for rival groups that Lopez is totally wholesome. For the reason that Twins explored buying and selling the less-expensive Joe Ryan on the deadline, it stands to purpose that they’d even be open to shifting a pricier rotation possibility in Lopez, although naturally the entrance workplace would desire a important return slightly than only a wage dump.
Wednesday’s stunning information that the Pohlad household was abandoning plans to promote the staff threw one other curveball into what has been a tumultuous few weeks for the group. It’s doable the addition of two new minority house owners has offered sufficient of a money inflow that payroll cuts are not a precedence, but we’ll have to attend till the offseason to see how issues really play out, and what sorts of rebuild-or-reload strikes president of baseball operations Derek Falvey shall be contemplating.
