The Minnesota Twins have traded the reigning American League batting champion Luis Arraez to the Maimi Marlins for right-handed starting pitcher Pablo Lopez and two prospects.
The stunning news was confirmed by the Twins, who send their fan favorite infielder to Miami for Lopez, shortstop Jose Salas and a 17-year-old prospect. Salas is rated the No. 93 prospect in all of baseball in the latest Baseball Prospectus rankings. He’s 19 years old and was the No. 5 prospect in the Marlins’ organization, per MLB Pipeline.
Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reported that Twins would be willing to part with Arraez if they received controllable young pitching in return. Arraez is under team control through 2025.
Lopez, 26, was 10-10 last season with a 3.75 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 180 innings. He is under team control for two more seasons. He made 32 starts last season and has a 3.94 ERA in 510 career innings at the MLB level.
The second prospect headed to the Twins is outfielder Byron Chourio, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. He’s 17 years old and hit .344 in the Dominican Summer League last year, according to Baseball Reference.
Pablo López is one of the kindest humans to ever wear a Marlins uniform. Just an incredibly genuine, down to earth man who wears a permanent smile. He will be missed tremendously.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) January 20, 2023
