Why right now is the best time to trade for Pablo Lopez

Pablo Lopez is having a down year, to say the least. The Twins ace has been a below average pitcher so far two months into the season. But, we predict that Lopez will turn things around in the second half of the year and become one of the best pitchers in the game.

So far this season, Pablo Lopez has statistically been one of the worst pitchers in baseball. He has a 6-6 record with a 5.33 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. He also has a -0.2 WAR, which is just terrible for him, and a 73 ERA + which is the worst of his career. He also leads the American League in earned runs and home runs given up. In advanced stats, he has a -8 RAA and a -0.8 WAA. The moral is, Pablo Lopez has just been bad this season, but he's about to turn it around. 

The reason we predict future success for Lopez is actually because of his last season. Last season, he had an 11-8 record with a 3.66 ERA, alongside a 1.15 WHIP and 234 strikeouts. He also had a 3.3 WAR compared to this seasons lackluster -0.2 WAR. He was an All-Star and finished seventh in a loaded American League Cy Young featuring guys like Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo. The 2023 season was the best of his seven year career, and because of that we believe he will come back and be great.

Here comes the fun part of the article: choosing pitchers that we would pick Pablo Lopez over. This long list will include pitchers such as Spencer Turnbull, Freddy Peralta, Kenley Jansen, Bryce Miller, Zac Gallen, Brady Singer, Marcus Stroman, George Kirby, Hunter Greene, and Javier Assad. This list could go on for ages, but these are the most notable pitchers that Pablo Lopez will be better than for the remainder of the season, and we think he could still finish top-10 in the Cy Young voting.