FORT MYERS, Fla. -- There was good news and bad news on the injury front for the Twins on Thursday, as Pablo López’s surgery turned out better than expected but David Festa will be shut down for about two weeks due to a shoulder injury. Additionally, Joe Ryan continues to progress from lower back inflammation and is expected to throw off a mound this weekend.
The Festa injury was a blow, as Minnesota is now down from eight starting rotation candidates at the start of camp to six. Festa’s availability for the start of the season is in question. López will miss the entire season, and with Festa removed from the mix, it’s now six names for five spots.
To bolster their rotational depth, the Twins claimed right-hander Zak Kent off waivers from the Cardinals on Thursday. Kent, 28, made his Major League debut for Cleveland on April 23, 2025, and went 1-0 with a 4.58 ERA, eight walks and 16 strikeouts in 12 relief appearances. In a corresponding move, Minnesota placed López on the 60-day injured list.
Thursday's news on López was the most encouraging. He underwent elbow surgery on Wednesday with Dr. Keith Meister in Texas, but Meister had to do the less extensive of two possible procedures -- a repair of the ulnar collateral ligament with an internal brace, rather than a reconstruction.
A repair procedure comes with a shorter recovery timeline than a reconstruction. So while López will still miss the entire season, this procedure should leave him in better shape to enjoy a full and healthy 2027 campaign.
“At the 5-6 month mark, Dr. Meister will do a repeat MRI and if everything goes well, we'll get him rolling and get him started,” said head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta. “This is the better of the two surgeries. We're pretty excited about that. Pablo is excited about that as well.”
Counteracting that is the latest injury to Festa, who was hampered for much of 2025 due to a relatively minor incidence of thoracic outlet syndrome in his throwing shoulder. He has been diagnosed with an impingement in the joint and will not pick up a ball for “a couple of weeks,” per Paparesta. According to club officials, this is a separate injury from the TOS that vexed Festa last year, but regardless it’s not a positive development.
“I’ve kind of felt it on and off the last week or two,” he said. “Didn’t really say anything, because sometimes when you’re building up, you don’t always feel great. But once my bullpen wasn’t as good as it probably should’ve been, I just spoke up and got an image done. And everything lines up pretty well with what I’m feeling.”
After undergoing an MRI exam, Festa received an injection in his shoulder and will not throw for a period of about 2-3 weeks.
“Going to have that cortisone injection hopefully help calm things down and also give him some time down,” said general manager Jeremy Zoll. “We'll try to get him going from there. I feel for him given he's been trying to navigate all this.”
Ryan's progress continues to track with what he and the club hoped when he was first scratched on Saturday. He continues to go through a long-toss program. He's expected to throw a bullpen session over the weekend. That could put him in position to get into a game within the next week.
Ryan’s status for the upcoming World Baseball Classic remains undetermined. He is slated to pitch for Team USA, but it’s unclear whether he will still attempt to participate.
The Twins’ starting-pitching depth has faded quite a bit. They entered camp with eight starters for five spots. Then they lost López early in camp, and now Festa is out of the mix. That leaves six primary candidates.
Ryan and Bailey Ober are secure at the top of the rotation, though Ober has not yet thrown in a game this spring as he attempts to regain the mechanics that made him one of the game’s most reliable starters from 2021-2024. Club officials are projecting optimism regarding Ober’s form.
Behind them, Taj Bradley, Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews and Mick Abel are in contention for the remaining three spots. There’s additional depth that’s a little farther away in pitchers like Kendry Rojas and Andrew Morris, but what appeared to be one of the club’s greatest strengths has already been thinned out noticeably before March even starts.
“We want to utilize spring,” Zoll said. “Hopefully we'll stay healthy the rest of the way but we'll evaluate all the options out there from an external perspective and the rest of our internal options. You're kind of highlighting a group of six and there's the crop below that of 40-man pitchers that we also think can help. We want to figure out how we can do everything we can to supplement that group that we still like a lot. We see a lot of upside and we'll use spring to see what's going on everywhere. Usually you see a lull in action for a bit as teams settle in, want to make sure they're staying healthy. We'll keep evaluating.”