MN Twins Ace Removed from Team’s First Spring Training Practice
Monday marked the Minnesota Twins first full squad practice of spring training, after pitchers and catchers officially reported Friday.
There are still a ton of question marks surrounding new manager Derek Shelton and a roster that still looks incomplete, especially at corner outfield, shortstop and in the bullpen, where GM Jeremy Zoll has been continually adding pieces, even since players began arriving down in Fort Myers.
Minnesota’s only projected strength this season is the starting rotation. Not only do the Twins bring a ton of young, experienced depth to the 2026 table, but Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez represent one of the best one-two punches out there, as well..
Pablo Lopez leaves Minnesota Twins practice
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen much of the tandem in recent seasons. Joe Ryan missed a large chunk of 2024 due to injury. The next season, Minnesota lost Pablo Lopez for all but 14 starts, courtesy of a grade 2 teres major strain.
Then Monday — not even one full day into the official start of spring training — possible disaster struck when Pablo Lopez “out of an abundance of caution, was removed in the middle of a live throwing session with “elbow soreness”. He’ll now undergo an MRI to find the extent of the damage.
Out of abundance of caution, Pablo was removed with some elbow soreness. He’ll have some imaging done.
— Declan Goff (@DexsTweets) February 16, 2026
These days, it’s no surprise to hear that Pablo Lopez is already throwing live BP on day one of official spring training workouts. These guys stay in shape year-round now. Even beyond that, Pablo is on a fast track to readiness this spring, as he prepares to lead Team Venezuela in March’s World Baseball Classic.
Lopez owned a 2.74 ERA (3.19 FIP) last season, in limited action — striking out 73 hitters in 75 2/3 innings. Had he stayed healthy and carried those numbers through the season, Pablo would have been smackdab in the middle of 2025 Cy Young conversations.
Starting depth for Minnesota Twins is big
As the Minnesota Twins have brought more relief pitchers into big league camp, the more plausible it is that starters won’t need to immediately transition to reliever roles.
Now that the Twins have veterans like Liam Hendriks, Dan Altavilla, and Andrew Chafin at their disposal, the bullpen almost looks big league caliber.
New #MNTwins reliever Andrew Chafin will make $2M plus have a chance to earn up to an additional $1.25M in performance bonuses if he makes the roster. Learning some stuff about him and please have him make it. Clubhouse interviews would be epic! pic.twitter.com/AnCDKHwMHF
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) February 14, 2026
By having those veterans onboard out of the gate, it’s possible that young starters like David Festa, Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp will remain on the starter path, at least for now.
Marco Raya has already been confirmed to make the move into a relief role, but he’ll now have time to adjust to the role down in St. Paul. The former top pitching prospect posted a 6.02 ERA in 98 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year. Even in shorter stints, it would be a lot to immediately lean on him in the bullpen.
Last season, the Minnesota Twins had a whopping 16 pitchers make starts. They’d certainly love to see less arms needed this season, and while the depth is nice, health and productivity is a much more welcomed path.
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