The Minnesota Twins have multiple paths they can choose ahead of the MLB trade deadline. But if they were still putting together their plan of action, Cole Sands’s latest injury may have forced their hand.
Sands was placed on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday after suffering a setback with a right elbow strain. The Twins recalled right-hander Jack Anderson from Triple-A St. Paul to take his place on the active roster, but that still leaves Minnesota’s bullpen severely depleted with just under a week before the deadline arrives on Aug. 3.
Before the injury, the Twins may have leaned on Sands to be an internal addition. But with this news, it drives the point home that they must add pitching ahead of the deadline.
Cole Sands becomes latest Twins pitcher to get bit by injury bug
The Twins’ pitching staff has been serviceable at times this season. But overall, they’re a group that has been teetering on the edge. Season-ending injuries for Pablo López, Mick Abel and David Festa were the first blow to Minnesota’s pitching depth and the Twins have survived other notable injuries to Taj Bradley and Bailey Ober as the season has progressed.
That list seems pretty long, but it’s staggering to consider that’s just the starting rotation. The Twins bullpen has also had their share of injuries with the most notable being Anthony Banda’s season-ending lat strain. While Minnesota needs to find a left-hander to pair with Taylor Rogers in his absence, it may have also been banking on Sands to recover from his injury and fill the void on the right-handed side.
When Sands is on, he can be a key member of the Twins pen. He was one of the best relievers on the team in the 2024 season, posting a 3.28 ERA, 85 strikeouts and a 1.00 WHIP in 71.1 innings. His metrics also backed him up as he generated a 31.6 percent chase rate, 29.1 percent strikeout rate and 4.1 percent walk rate that were in the 81st percentile or higher according to Baseball Savant.
Sands wasn’t as effective in 2025, but he still put up solid numbers with a 4.50 ERA, 64 strikeouts and a 1.17 WHIP in 72 innings. But this year has been a disaster from the jump with his fastball velocity dropping from 95.4 mph in 2024 to 94.8 mph last season to 92.9 mph this year.
Still, there was some hope that Sands could return and help the Twins bullpen for the stretch run before it was dashed with Sunday’s outing against the Athletics. Entering the game with a 7-0 lead, Sands served up a three-run homer to Nick Kurtz in the top of the sixth inning and allowed five earned runs overall, allowing the Athletics to cut the lead down to 8-6 by the middle of the seventh inning.
Cole Sands’s injury should be what convinces the Twins to buy at the deadline
With Sands on the shelf, it reinforces the need to find bullpen help. Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gomez have formed a solid back end, but the rest of the Twins’ relievers have combined for a 5.03 ERA that is the third-worst in baseball behind the Athletics (5.53) and the Kansas City Royals (5.24) who will open a three-game series with the Twins on Tuesday night.
To further point out the gap, the team with the highest bullpen ERA among current playoff teams entering Tuesday was the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are over a half-run better than the Twins with an ERA of 4.48.
It would be surprising if the Twins went all-in at the deadline in some sort of public relations campaign. It would also be shocking if Minnesota aimed high, landing Aroldis Chapman of the Boston Red Sox, Mason Miller of the San Diego Padres or Luke Weaver of the New York Mets as players that could be available.
But the Twins need to do something and Sands’s setback should be enough to convince them to go acquire some pitching.
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