Early today, Craig Mish of The Miami Herald reported that the Minnesota Twins and starter Pablo Lpez were close to consenting to a four-year, $73.5 million expansion. Dan Hayes and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic later on validated the record. The reported bargain Jhoan Duran Shorts acquires out Lpez's final adjudication trip in 2024, and adds 3 additional years for the Twins. Presuming he would have navigated $10 million in settlement following period, it's basically a 3-year, $63 million extension for the starter. The bargain makes lots of feeling from Lpez's side, as it secures him right into a competitive team with an excellent salary, while still enabling him to be a complimentary agent prior to his age-32 season and get another big contract. For the Twins, it's tough to visualize a better extension than this after Lopez's sizzling start. The AAV of this contract puts him in a similar variety as what mid-rotation starters have actually been entering current offseasons, such as Jameson Taillon's take care of the Cubs last offseason. Looking at similar pre-FA expansions, such as Logan Webb's with the San Francisco Giants, the Doubles clearly got a team-friendly pact from Lpez.Another great comparison is old buddy Jose Berrios. While Berrios has actually had a hard time in Toronto, he remained in a similar circumstance when he authorized his seven-year, $131 million expansion. With a year of group control continuing to be, Berrios got a comparable AAV however extended it 3 years much longer to bring up the round figure. The reality that the Doubles were able to prolong Lpez for nearly half of what Berrios received is a take. As our own John Foley put it in our Slack network, we're getting Twins Pablo at the Marlins Pablo price.Lpez joins Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton as core gamers secured into long-lasting, big-money extensions in Minnesota. It's a welcome adjustment for the Doubles, whose previous largest pitcher contract was Ervin Santana's four-year, $54 million warranty, though they've been trying to drink that trend. The Doubles were squarely in the mix for both Yu Darvish and Zack Wheeler in current offseasons, providing comparable cash to the $100 million+ deals they signed with the Cubs and Phillies, respectively.The offer is still pending a physical, so it likely will not be announced by the Doubles until Wednesday or Thursday Twins Store, yet I do not believe we'll be seeing any kind of Correa-esque hijinks this time around.