{"id":78109,"date":"2025-08-15T08:43:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T08:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=78109"},"modified":"2025-08-15T08:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T08:43:49","slug":"breaking-twins-all-star-pitcher-provides-his-own-injury-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=78109","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Pablo Lopez suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right teres major muscle in early June, and the Twins right-hander has now missed a little over 10 weeks of action.<\/p>\n

This puts him within the projected 8-to-12 week timeline initially attached to his recovery, and Lopez has steadily been taking steps toward a September return, including five bullpen sessions and a simulated inning.<\/p>\n

The next step comes Friday, as Lopez told reporters (including\u00a0Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Minneapolis Star Tribune) that he\u2019ll face live hitters for the first time over two simulated innings.<\/p>\n

Should all go well on Friday, Lopez will advance to a spring training-esque schedule of an additional inning every five or six days. \u00a0It can be assumed a minor league rehab assignment will be part of this plan given how much time Lopez has missed, but is aiming to be back in Minnesota\u2019s rotation by early September.<\/p>\n

Since the Twins had a virtual fire sale of their roster at the trade deadline and only faintly remain in wild-card contention, it isn\u2019t likely that Lopez will be returning to any meaningful games.<\/p>\n

However, Lopez isn\u2019t at all considering a shutdown, as he is intent on making \u201cfour or five, maybe six starts\u201d in what remains of the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause time allows, I want to do it. \u00a0Also, peace of mind,\u201d Lopez said. \u00a0\u201cI want to be able to tell myself I was able to come back from this injury and pitch and perform at the level I know I can perform.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Between this shoulder strain and a minimal 15-day absence due to a hamstring strain in April, Lopez has been limited to only 60 2\/3 innings this season.<\/p>\n

This injury-riddled year has interrupted a string of workhorse performances for Lopez, who tossed 559 1\/3 IP over the 2022-24 seasons \u2014 the seventh-highest innings total of any pitcher in baseball over that three-season span.<\/p>\n

The righty also posted a 3.83 ERA over that span, and the bottom-line results were even sharper this year since Lopez had a 2.82 ERA across his 60 2\/3 frames in 2025. \u00a0The Twins were already impressed enough by Lopez\u2019s first season in Minnesota to sign the righty to a four-year, $73.5M extension in April 2023 that covers the 2024-27 seasons.<\/p>\n

He is set to earn $21.5M in each of the 2026 and 2027 seasons.<\/p>\n

Speculatively speaking, it is worth wondering if Lopez and the Twins could be viewing any September starts as an audition for potential trade suitors. \u00a0Lopez and Byron Buxton are Minnesota\u2019s highest-paid players now that Carlos Correa has been dealt to the Astros, and Buxton has\u00a0already made it clear\u00a0that he won\u2019t be waiving his no-trade protection.<\/p>\n

That leaves Lopez as the most natural candidate for a trade if the Twins continue to explore payroll cuts, and a few more outings in 2025 would also provide some evidence for rival teams that Lopez is fully healthy.<\/p>\n

Since the Twins explored trading the less-expensive Joe Ryan at the deadline, it stands to reason that they would also be open to moving a pricier rotation option in Lopez, though naturally the front office would want a significant return rather than just a salary dump.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s surprising news that the Pohlad family\u00a0was abandoning plans to sell the team\u00a0threw another curveball into what has been a tumultuous few weeks for the organization.<\/p>\n

It is possible the addition of two new minority owners has provided enough of a cash influx that payroll cuts are no longer a priority, yet we\u2019ll have to wait until the offseason to see how things truly play out, and what types of rebuild-or-reload moves president of baseball operations Derek Falvey will be considering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update Pablo Lopez suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right teres major muscle in early June, and the Twins… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":78113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=78109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update Pablo Lopez suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right teres major muscle in early June, and the Twins...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=78109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-15T08:43:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2-61.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=78109\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=78109\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Twins All-Star pitcher provides his own injury update - 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