Minnesota Twins ace right-hander Pablo Lopez will be sidelined for an extended period while he recovers from a significant tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, general manager Jeremy Zoll said Tuesday.
Season-ending Tommy John surgery is possible for Lopez, who is expected to get a second opinion.
The news comes one day after Lopez cut short his live batting practice session due to what manager Derek Shelton labeled as “a little bit of elbow soreness.”
Preparing to pitch for Venezuela in next month’s World Baseball Classic, Lopez threw two-plus innings against live hitters at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla., the Twins’ spring training home.
Lopez, who turns 30 on March 7, made 32 starts per season from 2022-24 but endured three separate stints on the injured list in 2025, when he went 5-4 in 14 starts with a 2.74 ERA over 75 2/3 innings. A hamstring injury, a muscle injury in the back of his throwing shoulder and a forearm strain landed him on the IL.
In eight seasons with the Miami Marlins (2018-22) and Twins, Lopez is 59-53 with a 3.81 ERA in 172 games (all starts), with 994 strikeouts and 251 walks over 965 innings. The 2023 All-Star is entering the third season of a four- year, $73.5 million deal he signed in 2023.
Judge judges Yanks’ offseason
New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge readily admitted that it was “brutal” to wait on his team to make some transactions this offseason.
“It was brutal. I’m like, ‘I see a lot of free agents out there,'” said Judge, the three-time and reigning American League Most Valuable Player. “I’m like, ‘Let’s sign these guys right now and start adding more pieces,’ because I’ve seen other teams around the league get better.
“Early on, it was pretty tough to watch. I’m like, ‘Man, we’re the New York Yankees. Let’s go out there and get the right people, get the right pieces to go out there and finish this thing off.'”
Judge was asked whether he expressed his view to the team, and he grinned and said, “Yeah, oh, yeah.”
In the end, New York mostly brought back the same roster from 2025 that finished 94-68, lost the AL East title to the Toronto Blue Jays in a tiebreaker and then fell to Toronto in the AL Division Series.
Center fielder Trent Grisham accepted a qualifying offer last November, after which it was all quiet for a franchise known as one of the major leagues’ biggest spenders. At one point in the winter, the Yankees were the only team in baseball that had not yet added a new player.
That changed when the Yankees traded four prospects for Miami Marlins left- handed pitcher Ryan Weathers. But the biggest names they signed were brought back from the 2025 roster – outfielder Cody Bellinger landed a five-year, $162.5 million deal last month and veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt came back on a one-year, $4 million pact.
That was enough for Judge.
“We’re right where we need to be,” Judge told reporters. “I love it. I don’t know, people might have their opinions on (running it back) because we didn’t win it all last year and fell short in the Division Series.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: MLB roundup: Twins’ Pablo Lopez has UCL tear, might be lost for season
Reporting by Field Level Media, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
