The twins sent the start Pablo López getting an MRI after he felt elbow pain during live batting practice this morning (links via Dan Hayes of The Athletic and Matthew Leach of MLB.com). The righty threw two innings in practice before dealing with discomfort in what would have been his third frame.
Until now, the twins have created this situation as a defense mechanism. There is absolutely no reason for López to go into any kind of discomfort in mid-February. Still it comes as a concern whenever a pitcher feels elbow discomfort. That’s especially true in López’s case, as he’s coming off a season cut short by an arm injury.
López suffered a severe Grade 2 fracture of his shoulder last June. He missed three months. The veteran was able to return to the club in early September, hoping to build momentum in the offseason. It wasn’t to be, as he suffered an arm injury that sidelined him for a year after the start of September three. His speed in those games is back to where it was before the shoulder injury. The forearm pain could be a residual effect of the layoff. The Twins seemed particularly concerned, announcing in early November that they would be off limits during the season.
Minnesota also took López (and essentially all of their other veteran players) off the trade market. They were aggressive deadline sellers but will enter the season expecting to compete for a playoff spot. Whether that’s wishful thinking remains to be seen, but new owner Tom Pohlad has said repeatedly over the past few weeks that he believes the program can compete. Any hope is largely built on the rotation, which would be a great one-two punch with López and Joe Ryan. If the first one is skipped at any time, the already uphill path to the playground becomes more difficult.
The Twins have a good amount of upside for the starting staff. Simeon Woods Richardson, Bailey Ober, Hello Bradley, Mick Abel, Zebby Matthews again David Festa they are all in a mix of rotations. Hopes Kendry Rojas, Connor Prielipp again Andrew Morris maybe they need more time in Triple-A but they are on the 40-man roster. Any of them could enter sometime this year. There is reason to be optimistic about everyone on that team, but all of those pitchers who have entered the MLB era have had their share of ups and downs. They’ll also need some of these pitchers to fill out a patchwork bullpen if they’re going to assemble opposing pitching staffs.
López has undergone Tommy John surgery in his history, he underwent it when he was 18 years old in 2014. He was the longest tenured player in most of his MLB career. A rotator cuff injury cost him several months in 2021, but he didn’t miss a start in any of the next three seasons. He was limited to 14 outings last year but was as efficient as ever for average. López turned in a 2.74 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate over 75 2/3 innings.
