The Minnesota Twins bullpen has been a mess all season . It's why relief pitching remains their focus with the trade deadline looming, and it's also a major reason they sit at just 55-55 through 110 games .
Tom Pohlad has talked a big game while doing nothing to back it up thus far. The deadline gives Minnesota another opportunity to add, but it sounds like the front office will be focused on low-wattage moves .
Bullpen help alone probably won't turn the Twins into a World Series contender, but it was already a must. That need only grew after Cole Sands briefly returned and landed right back on the injured list . He has now been ruled out for the rest of the season.
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Sands had not pitched in the big leagues since April due to a right forearm strain
and already had one rehab assignment shut down
before returning to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. It went horribly. The right-hander allowed five runs while recording just one out before going straight back on the injured list with a right elbow strain.
Twins beat writer Matthew Leach
reports that surgery is now the next step.
A frustrating year for Cole Sands is officially coming to an end. Sands, who has battled right elbow trouble since the end of April, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on the joint on Tuesday and will not pitch again in 2026.
His season ends with just 12 innings pitched and an 8.25 ERA. He allowed 11 runs on 15 hits with 11 strikeouts and five walks.
Last season, Sands finished as one of the veteran arms in a gutted bullpen but still posted a 4.50 ERA and 3.58 FIP. That was a far cry from the 3.28 ERA and 2.63 FIP he recorded in 2024. Now 29 years old, he'll have to prove he can return to his 2024 form after surgery.
If Minnesota was counting on his return to help patch the bullpen, losing him for the rest of the season creates an even bigger hole.
The two best relievers in the Minnesota Twins bullpen this season have been converted rookie starter Andrew Morris and scrap-heap pickup Yoendrys Gómez , who has revitalized his career. Both have been positives, but how Minnesota found them highlights the state of the group as a whole.
Minnesota's bullpen has not been good this season, and a strong July is the only thing keeping its numbers respectable. Any deadline additions need to actually be capable of handling high-leverage innings, not just filling out the unit.
It's understandable why the Twins wanted to cash in on Jhoan Duran . Louie Varland , however, would look awfully good anchoring this bullpen right now. A healthy Sands would have helped, too.
"It's been obviously kind of a long battle this year with it. So yeah, kind of get some answers and hopefully just clean it all up and can come into next year ready to go and not have to worry about any of it."
The Minnesota Twins can no longer treat Sands as a dependable part of their bullpen plans. He hasn't performed consistently enough when healthy, and the elbow surgery creates even more uncertainty heading into 2027.
Help has to arrive before the deadline if Minnesota is going to remain in the hunt down the stretch. They should also focus on constructing a complete bullpen this offseason so injuries like this are less detrimental.
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