Cubs trade target: Pablo López

Here is another Twins right-hander (in addition to Joe Ryan, who I profiled in this series last week) who could help the Cubs. It seems clear that the Twins are in rebuild mode and would likely be happy to trade Pablo López.

There are caveats with López. He missed quite a bit of time in 2025 with injuries. He missed three months with a strain of the teres major muscle in the back of his shoulder, then made three starts in September before spending the rest of the year on the injured list with what was termed a “mild forearm strain.” Here’s what was written at MLB.com late in the season about the latter injury:

There is not currently any concern regarding a possible elbow or ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury. If the season were not coming to an end, it is possible that López would have simply skipped a start rather than going on the injured list. But with the compressed timeline, the decision was made to shelve him.

“All things considered, best-case scenario, best possible news,” said López. “Just with the timing of where we are in the season with seven games to go, eight days to go, there’s no need.”

López, thus, should be ready to go for Opening Day 2026, though if the Cubs did trade for him, they’d certainly want to examine all his medicals.

Before 2025, López had several good seasons in a row for the Marlins and Twins, coming to Minnesota in the deal that sent Luis Arráez to Miami. Until 2025, he was durable, making 32 starts in three consecutive seasons. He doesn’t walk guys (career 6.3 percent walk rate) and is under contract for two more seasons at $21.75 million per year, not an unreasonable deal.

Once again, as I have done in this series, I’m going to let you make a trade proposal for Pablo López. Would you trade for the Twins right-hander?