Pablo López, already designated the Twins’ Opening Day starter, says he’s unbothered by trade rumors

Pablo López has already been traded twice in his career, so he’s not one to overreact when he sees his name pop up in trade rumors.

Teams have inquired about López’s availability on the trade market because the Twins are operating with little payroll flexibility, and López is owed $64.5 million over the next three seasons. Considering the prices for free-agent starting pitchers this offseason, it’s a team-friendly contract for a pitcher who has shown dominance in playoff games.

There is no indication any conversations about López progressed to an advanced stage — Twins manager Rocco Baldelli declared López the club’s Opening Day starter on a radio show this week — and President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey noted that teams inquire about most of their players.

“I signed to be here long term,” López said Friday. “Rumors are just rumors until something happens. It’s not like they were rumors that the Twins called me [about them]. They are rumors that I mainly see because my aunt texts all those rumors to me.”

López prefers not to pay too much attention to trade rumors. He won’t ask his agent about them because he doesn’t want to be consumed by them. But he has two family members, an aunt and an uncle, who often text him when they see his name in stories or social media to ask if any of the rumors are true.

“I didn’t know Rocco named me the Opening Day starter until my aunt told me about it,” López said. “I thought that was funny.”

López, 28, returned to the Dominican Republic for the first time since 2017 earlier this month. He was a special guest speaker at the Twins’ Dominican baseball academy, which offers a variety of high school classes in English, life skills and academic studies for the team’s young signees.

The four-day visit to Boca Chica, which overlapped with the Twins’ signing day ceremony for their newest international signings and a high school graduation, was López’s idea.

“Education has always been a big part of my life and my family,” said López, who stayed at the academy to remain around the young players and answer questions. “When I got in pro ball, I was fortunate I had graduated high school, but 98 percent of my teammates hadn’t. I knew there was something missing there. When I got traded to the Twins and started meeting everyone from the education department, I saw how they make it the utmost priority because it’s such a hard path to make it to the big leagues.”

There are Twins coaches and officials who believe Griffin Jax could handle a transition to the starting rotation, but Jax is fine with sticking in the bullpen after contemplating a change this offseason.

“I just feel like my personality thrives in that back-end, late-inning role,” Jax said. “I almost look at it like: It’s not broken, why bother trying to fix it? Last year, I saw those [relievers] make a lot of money, too. I found some comfort in knowing that if I do what I’m doing, I’ll be fine financially. I try to think it more as where do I feel my best self? That’s, I think, in the bullpen.”

Jax, a 30-year-old righthander, throws five different pitches, which makes him an intriguing candidate to start. He was one of the most dominant relievers in baseball last year, posting a 2.03 ERA in 71 innings with 95 strikeouts and 15 walks.

Outgoing Twins CEO Dave St. Peter, who plans to move out of the role within the next two months, said season ticket renewals from last year likely will exceed 90%.

“I’m still hopeful we can get to 92 or 93 percent in terms of our overall season-ticket renewal,” he said.