{"id":583645,"date":"2026-02-20T22:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/583645\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:20:21","slug":"twins-ace-pablo-lopez-undergoing-tommy-john-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/583645\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins ace Pablo Lopez undergoing Tommy John surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pablo L\u00f3pez will miss the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>The Twins right-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/17\/sports\/twins-pablo-lopez-has-torn-ucl-in-brutal-spring-training-injury-blow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is set to undergo Tommy John surgery next week<\/a> after it was discovered that he had a torn ulnar collateral ligament earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez, who turns 30 next month, had felt something in his elbow during a bullpen session Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The injury also takes L\u00f3pez out of the World Baseball Classic, during which he was set to take the mound for Venezuela.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49489051;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38556619\" width=\"882\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP_Twins_Spring_Baseball_67748-d7948-0.jpg\" alt=\"A baseball player in a black Twins cap and black jersey with a red glove winds up to pitch.\" class=\"wp-image-38556619\"  \/>Minnesota Twins pitcher Pablo L\u00f3pez throws during a spring training baseball workout in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p>The typical recovery timeline for Tommy John is roughly 12 to 18 months, meaning L\u00f3pez could be back on a big league mound by early next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the second time in L\u00f3pez\u2019s professional career that he will undergo Tommy John surgery, after having the surgery in 2014 while he was in the Mariners\u2019 organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez has been Minnesota\u2019s starter in each of its last three Opening Days since being traded by the Marlins before the 2023 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In three seasons with the Twins, L\u00f3pez has posted a 3.68 ERA across 78 starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During his debut season with the team in 2023, L\u00f3pez had the best season of his career, making his first and only All-Star team and finishing seventh in the AL Cy Young voting with a 3.66 ERA across 194 innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last season, L\u00f3pez dominated with a 2.74 ERA, although he was limited to just 14 starts with a shoulder and forearm strain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38556646\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crop-38556636_562e8b.jpg\" alt=\"Minnesota Twins' Pablo L\u00f3pez works from the mound against the Cleveland Guardians in the first inning of a baseball game, Sept. 19, 2025, in Minneapolis.\" class=\"wp-image-38556646\"  \/>Minnesota Twins\u2019 Pablo L\u00f3pez works from the mound against the Cleveland Guardians in the first inning of a baseball game, Sept. 19, 2025, in Minneapolis. AP<\/p>\n<p>After finishing 70-92 last season, Twins management cleaned house this offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after the regular season\u2019s end, Minnesota <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/29\/sports\/twins-fire-manager-rocco-baldelli-after-second-straight-disappointing-season\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fired manager Rocco Baldelli<\/a> after seven seasons at the helm, later replacing him with Derek Shelton.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Late last month, with spring training just weeks away, the Twins and president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/30\/sports\/twins-top-executive-derek-falvey-ousted-in-shocking-shakeup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cmutually\u201d agreed to split ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The team announced general manager Jeremy Zoll would continue \u201cleading\u201d the baseball department after Falvey\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pablo L\u00f3pez will miss the 2026 season. The Twins right-hander is set to undergo Tommy John surgery next&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,3190,4,185,6408,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-583645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesotatwins","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tommy-john-surgery","15":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116105290887582968","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}