Twins to activate former All-Star, will start Friday's game

The Minnesota Twins will activate Pablo Lopez to start Friday's series opener against the Kansas City Royals, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. He’ll be activated from the 60-day injured list. Minnesota already has two vacancies on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to option a pitcher to create an active roster spot.

Lopez has been out of action for three months. He suffered a Grade 2 teres major strain in his throwing shoulder during his start on June 3. That injury was arguably the turning point of Minnesota’s season. The Twins were seven games above .500 and in possession of a wild-card spot at the time. Minnesota’s rotation collapsed over the next few weeks. That wasn’t all about López’s injury, as the struggles extended beyond call-up David Festa, but their season never recovered.

The Twins went 9-18 in June. A month later, they traded almost everyone from their bullpen and pulled off the surprising Carlos Correa salary dump. A healthy Lopez would’ve been a target for contenders as well. The Twins had no reason to trade him halfway through an injury, but it’s not out of the question that they hear teams out this offseason.

Lopez was off to what might’ve been a career season. He posted a 2.82 ERA in 60 2/3 frames spanning 11 starts. He fanned a quarter of opponents against a 5.7% walk rate. López has been an above-average starter for a few years but has yet to post a sub-3.00 ERA over a full season. He might have been on that trajectory had he not gotten hurt.

Minnesota’s sell-off and fall down the standings raised some question about whether it’d be prudent to shut Lopez down entirely. The veteran righty remained committed to making it back for a few turns through the rotation. That’ll allow him to go into the offseason with more confidence than he would have had coming off a season-ending shoulder injury. It’ll also give opposing clubs a few looks as they consider whether to make a big push to try to pull López in an offseason trade.

Lopez is wrapping up the second season of a four-year, $73.5M extension. He’ll make $21.5M per season between 2026-27. That’s below market value for a No. 2 caliber starter. López would have trade value if the Twins shop him, but they could prefer to hold him as a veteran anchor of a young rotation while looking ahead to a potential deadline deal in 2026. 

Joe Ryan, who is down to his last two seasons of arbitration control, will also be one of the offseason’s top trade candidates.