Pablo Lopez Leaves First Full Squad Workout with Elbow Soreness

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

Monday is supposed to be a day of excitement and hope across Twins Territory. Pitchers and catchers reported last week, and now the remaining position players have joined them. However, there was a noticeable shift in energy at Twins camp on Monday morning.

After the first full squad workout of the spring, some concern crept into the clubhouse when Pablo López walked off the mound during a live batting practice session and reported elbow soreness. The right-hander had been scheduled to throw three simulated innings, which represented a heavier workload than most pitchers in camp as he prepares to pitch for Team Venezuela in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

According to the Star Tribune, everything appeared routine until the second pitch of his third inning. That was when López alerted pitching coach Pete Maki to how his elbow felt. Moments later, he walked off the mound, and the session came to an abrupt end. Manager Derek Shelton told reporters that López will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the issue.

"Obviously, it's February 16," Shelton said. "After he and Pete talked, we decided, out of an abundance of caution, let's get him off the field and make sure he's OK. We'll get some imaging on it, just because of how important it is and he is to us. I think we'll have more information as we go along."

If López is forced to shut down from throwing, it would likely take him out of participation in the World Baseball Classic and could put his Opening Day availability in jeopardy. That would be a significant development for Minnesota, given that López has taken the ball on Opening Day in each of the past three seasons and has established himself as the anchor of the rotation.

Last week, López spoke on Inside Twins about how excited he was to represent Venezuela on an international stage. He reflected on his youth and the disappointment of being left off All-Star teams earlier in his career and noted how meaningful it would be to pitch for his country alongside a strong roster and coaching staff.

On that episode, López was asked about how he felt entering the season. He reiterated that many of the tests he was doing this winter proved that he was “in the best shape of his life.” That can become a cliche during early spring workouts, but it was clear that he felt better than he had in a long time, especially after injuries limited him to 14 starts last season. 

Shelton recently emphasized just how vital he is to the Twins' pitching puzzle this spring as the club works through multiple moving pieces on the staff.

"I don't know if anybody in that room takes care of himself as well as Pablo does, not only during the season, but in the offseason," Shelton said. "The fact he has awareness of his body, and he and Pete have a strong relationship, and they were able to have a conversation that was like, 'Let's hold off, and take a look here.' "

Spring training injuries always feel amplified, especially when they involve the arm of a frontline starter. For now, the Twins will wait on imaging results and hope that an early February scare does not turn into a March setback.

The organization built its rotation around López’s reliability and presence atop the staff, and any missed time would create a ripple effect throughout camp. The best-case scenario is that Monday becomes a reminder of why caution matters in February rather than the first chapter of a much larger concern for Minnesota’s pitching plans in 2026.

Check back at Twins Daily for more updates as they become available. 

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[bean5302]

Hopefully, it's just a minor bit of soreness from a mild tweaking of something. It would be a devastaing blow to the "we'll be competitive in 2026" type of mindset Tom Pohlad has been championing if the injury is significant.

[AceWrigley]

Not good.

[Patzky]

It's so early to be holding our breath but here we are. ☹️

[Cris E]

If he's going to get hurt at some point I'd rather it be now than wreck any good momentum that might develop going into the trade deadline. I prefer the team to be evaluated fairly come July, not based on a three week oblique or something fleeting like that. 

OTOH it wasn't required that he come up hurting, so it would have been better to just not see this at all.

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

It would be a devastating blow to the "we'll be competitive in 2026" type of mindset Tom Pohlad has been championing if the injury is significant.

Losing Pablo right now should trigger trades of Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton before the season begins.

[Fred]

It's not quite deja vu, but it feels like it.

[CRF]

Geez Louise...ALREADY?

[bean5302]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

Losing Pablo right now should trigger trades of Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton before the season begins.

Depends on whether or not Falvey's vaunted "pipeline" is legit. Every year writers from TD try to convince the fans "this is our year" just like the rampant Vikings fans as the football season ramps up.

Well, for the Falvey faithful who believe our former PoBO actually finally succeeded after 9 years, I suppose it would be time to find out.

[OregonTwinsFan]

Hoping for the best!

[Twodogs]

There goes Venezuela's shot.  

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Well, this stinks. Hopefully it isn't anything serious. Not a coincidence that last year's spiral started when he got hurt.

[Twodogs]

Hopefully he is OK, but it sure seems like Minnesota is cursed.  

[Post-Concussive Blues]

[dberthia]

And so it begins...

[Jacksson]

Should have dumped him when they could have during the offseason.

Along with: Ryan, Jeffers, Larnach, and perhaps Buxton.

Too late now.  The sinking ship has started to take on even more water.

[sweetmusicviola16]

Sure does seem like more and more pitching injuries every year. I wonder if it has anything to do with the love affair with trying to throw at 98mph plus and to do so to get 12 plus K's per nine? Pitchers didn't drop left and right back in the 60's-90's. Not like nowadays. 

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Depends on whether or not Falvey's vaunted "pipeline" is legit. Every year writers from TD try to convince the fans "this is our year" just like the rampant Vikings fans as the football season ramps up.

Well, for the Falvey faithful who believe our former PoBO actually finally succeeded after 9 years, I suppose it would be time to find out.

This is tiring. NOBODY but the posters said anything about Falvey and a pitching pipeline. That's not how Cleveland built their rotation and nobody who was paying attention should have assumed that's how it would be built in Minnesota. Cleveland didn't develop any of their pitchers except Danny Salazar. They traded for them when they were either already at the MLB level or about to be. Just like the Twins did.

And who are these Falvey faithful? It was a near consensus here that he needed to be replaced. This all just sounds like being angry at the situation and wanting to lay blame at the feet of the person you most dislike and then calling out imaginary posters for an imaginary defense of this guy you don't like.

[Craig Arko]

That sucks. Hope it resolves well, and quickly. For Pablo, who is a fine person.

However, there are ugly rumors life goes on anyway.

[bean5302]

10 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

This is tiring. NOBODY but the posters said anything about Falvey and a pitching pipeline. That's not how Cleveland built their rotation and nobody who was paying attention should have assumed that's how it would be built in Minnesota. Cleveland didn't develop any of their pitchers except Danny Salazar. They traded for them when they were either already at the MLB level or about to be. Just like the Twins did.

And who are these Falvey faithful? It was a near consensus here that he needed to be replaced. This all just sounds like being angry at the situation and wanting to lay blame at the feet of the person you most dislike and then calling out imaginary posters for an imaginary defense of this guy you don't like.

I'm not debating whether or not Falvey drafted and developed a pipeline for the rotation. I'm saying that year after year after year, the pitching pipeline (regardless of source) is looked at with overly optimistic faith, and yes, the writers on this site have been glowingly supportive of Falvey since his first days here in my opinion.

Even recently, articles about how Falvey was scapegoated were published. I find it hard to believe you overlooked them?

In any case, if we're to believe in the arms assembled behind Lopez, Ryan and Ober, we'll need to see them pitch. Matching or surpassing a 3.81 career ERA pitcher (Lopez) shouldn't be seen as some sort of insurmountable task. Prielipp could well do it. Matthews and Bradley both have the stuff to get there. I think you're missing the point. 

My point is the loss of Lopez (if it happens) is an opportunity for the pipeline to step up, especially for the fans of Falvey and the writers who believe it's all on the Pohlads.

[howeda7]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Losing Pablo right now should trigger trades of Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton before the season begins.

That would be both financial/media suicide and a poor way to maximize return. 

[CharlieDee]

I was hoping it was his left elbow that was sore.

[DJL44]

37 minutes ago, howeda7 said:

That would be both financial/media suicide

They already did that

[LastOnePicked]

2 hours ago, Twodogs said:

Hopefully he is OK, but it sure seems like Minnesota is cursed.  

I hope he's okay as well, but the Twins are certainly not cursed. They don't evaluate the health of their players very well and they don't maximize their opportunities when trade values are high. 

[LastOnePicked]

More than anything, let's hope Pablo is okay. But, folks, this is exactly what some of us were talking about all offseason. And it's possibly only getting started. When you have a glaring weakness or misstep anywhere in your organization, the fates will find it. And pretty quickly. 

 

[Linus]

Hopefully he is okay. This does illustrate the risk the Twins are taking holding onto Ryan , Lopez etc chasing a 500 season. You could end up holding the bag if they get seriously hurt. 

[bunsen82]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

I'm not debating whether or not Falvey drafted and developed a pipeline for the rotation. I'm saying that year after year after year, the pitching pipeline (regardless of source) is looked at with overly optimistic faith, and yes, the writers on this site have been glowingly supportive of Falvey since his first days here in my opinion.

Even recently, articles about how Falvey was scapegoated were published. I find it hard to believe you overlooked them?

In any case, if we're to believe in the arms assembled behind Lopez, Ryan and Ober, we'll need to see them pitch. Matching or surpassing a 3.81 career ERA pitcher (Lopez) shouldn't be seen as some sort of insurmountable task. Prielipp could well do it. Matthews and Bradley both have the stuff to get there. I think you're missing the point. 

My point is the loss of Lopez (if it happens) is an opportunity for the pipeline to step up, especially for the fans of Falvey and the writers who believe it's all on the Pohlads.

Me and you disagree on almost everything.   What I will say is it does appear we have 8 MLB level arms so this is the year we should be able to handle it.   

Festa, Mathews, Abel, Bradley and SWR for 2 spots.  A slight tweak is likely nothing but its also how last years injuries happened for Pablo as well.  The teres major strain became a much bigger deal than it seemed initially.   

[sweetmusicviola16]

21 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Me and you disagree on almost everything.   What I will say is it does appear we have 8 MLB level arms so this is the year we should be able to handle it.   

Festa, Mathews, Abel, Bradley and SWR for 2 spots.  A slight tweak is likely nothing but its also how last years injuries happened for Pablo as well.  The teres major strain became a much bigger deal than it seemed initially.   

Richardson is a 4.2 IP tax on the bullpen. Festa, Matthews and Abel have been or are not even mediocre SP, and many think they are destined for the Pen. Bradley is a upto this point been a consistent blowup. Better hope this is nothing from Lopez cuz this could go beyond ugly very quickly. 

[Craig Arko]

53 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

More than anything, let's hope Pablo is okay. But, folks, this is exactly what some of us were talking about all offseason. And it's possibly only getting started. When you have a glaring weakness or misstep anywhere in your organization, the fates will find it. And pretty quickly. 

 

We can sacrifice a bucket of chicken to Jobu and make it all better.

[bunsen82]

16 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Richardson is a 4.2 IP tax on the bullpen. Festa, Matthews and Abel have been or are not even mediocre SP, and many think they are destined for the Pen. Bradley is a upto this point been a consistent blowup. Better hope this is nothing from Lopez cuz this could go beyond ugly very quickly. 

He averaged a shade over 5 innings last year.   Along with a 2.0 WAR and a 7-4 W/L record.  Too bad we didn't have more SWR last season maybe we would have had a winning record.