With trade deadline ‘noise’ behind him, Marlins’ Pablo Lopez eyes a strong finish to 2022

About a half hour after MLB’s trade deadline passed, Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng made her way to the Marlins’ dugout at loanDepot park and approached Pablo Lopez.

Lopez, the No. 2 starter in Miami’s rotation, was the biggest among the possible players the Marlins could have dealt. He knew his name was out there. It’s hard not to know that.

“If I told you I didn’t hear anything, I would be lying to you because there was a lot of stuff on social media, TV, stuff like that,” Lopez said. “I was aware of it, but I never got worried because rumors are rumors until there are facts.”

The fact of the matter is Lopez is still a member of the Marlins. He was not traded by the 6 p.m. Tuesday deadline despite the fact that there was interest from the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, among others.

With the chatter subsided for now, Lopez’s undivided attention is on these final two months of the season. The Marlins are all but out of the playoff race, with Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field knocking them to 11 games under .500 at 48-59.

But individually, Lopez has a chance to finish a career season that is already in uncharted territory on a high note.

Following his outing on Saturday — four earned runs allowed on nine hits and two walks with six strikeouts while going one batter into the sixth inning — Lopez has already set career-highs in starts (22), innings pitched (123 2/3) and strikeouts (125). He had dealt with shoulder injuries in the second-half of the season in 2018, 2019 and 2021, which had impacted his ability to prove he can been an effective starter after the All-Star Break.

He has the chance to show over these next nine weeks if he is able to go the distance in a non-shortened season, which would set himself up for a positive offseason.

“Health is always big,” Lopez said. “I’m really proud of the fact that it’s the second half of the season and my body’s feeling the way it should feel. I’m looking forward to continue being able to take advantage of that, but also being able to finish strong. You want to finish the year.”

And that brings us back to that conversation in the dugout between Lopez and Ng.

“I think that we were both relieved everything was over,” Ng said. “For Pablo, I just told him ‘I imagine this must have been hard for you, the past week or 10 days. I’m sorry that was the case, but you’re here and we’re happy to have you.’”

Lopez’s perspective of the conversation?

“It was a very good talk,” the pitcher said. “Kim is a professional. The way she talks and the way she articulates, she just tells you what’s going on. It was a really good conversation. ... We are both ready to move forward.”

This was the first time Lopez has been prominently discussed in trade situations since making his MLB debut in 2018.

It likely won’t be the last.

After all, controllable, quality starting pitching is always a hot commodity. Lopez is under team control through the 2024 season.

But until the deadline passed at 6 p.m. Tuesday, all Lopez could do was wait.

Talks happened right up until the deadline. Ng said the Marlins received “consistently frequent calls” in the weeks leading up to the deadline about Lopez and the Marlins’ starting pitchers in general. She was willing to listen but wasn’t openly trying to trade Lopez unless the Marlins received an offer that blew them away.

“Everybody was nervous,” said Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, who calls Lopez his “brother.”

The nerves — Lopez’s and his teammates’ — subsided when the deadline passed and Lopez was still part of the clubhouse.

“Now that it’s gone,” Lopez said, “you put away the noise. It’s back to just focusing between starts and making sure you’re ready 100 percent physically and mentally to take the mound every fifth day.”

Assuming he stays healthy, Lopez is on track to make about 10 more starts this season. Should he finish the season healthy and avoid a significant drop off in production along the way, the Marlins and Lopez will likely be right back in the same situation this offseason as they were at the trade deadline.

His production isn’t an issue when he’s on the mound — Lopez has pitched to a 3.39 ERA since the start of the 2020 season. The main issue is his durability.

But even at that, Ng told Lopez during their conversation in the loanDepot park dugout that he is “very, very popular among other clubs” based on her conversations during potential negotiations at the trade deadline.

“Obviously there’s some good to it, that other teams pay attention,” Lopez said. “I think in a way, it speaks volumes to the fact that if you prepare yourself to the best of your abilities to be the best version of yourself, people are always watching and paying attention to the things you do. It made me realize that If I can just continue, things will fall where they need to fall.”