Anthony Banda’s season ended on Thursday with lat surgery, a development that matters well beyond one injured arm. The Minnesota Twins already had one of the least stable bullpens in the majors, and losing a left-handed reliever who had started to pitch better in June only makes the late-game picture more difficult.
Banda had been on the 15-day injured list since June 29 with a left lat strain, but the surgery turned what had been a short-term injury into a season-ending one. That is a tough break for a pitcher who had carved out a useful role after the Twins acquired him in February, when the Los Angeles Dodgers designated him for assignment.
A better June, then a hard stop
The encouraging part, at least from a performance standpoint, was that Banda was trending in the right direction before the injury. In June, he worked 9 1/3 innings over 11 outings and allowed only 2.0 runs, good for a 1.93 ERA. That came after a broader sample that still looked serviceable: 34 1/3 innings across 39 appearances, with a 4.46 ERA. For a bullpen piece, the contrast matters. The month suggested he was finding something. The surgery says the season got there too late.
It also leaves the Twins with less margin for error in a bullpen that entered Thursday’s action with a 5.24 ERA. That number already told the story of a relief group under strain, and Banda’s absence only narrows the options. A team can survive one reliever going cold. It is much harder to absorb the loss of someone who had recently become part of the solution, even if only in a smaller role.
There is still a little context that softens the immediate blow. Banda was not being asked to anchor the bullpen, and his overall line did not define the Twins’ season by itself. But the value of a useful left-hander is often in the innings he takes off the highest-leverage arms, and in a struggling bullpen, those innings matter more than they look on paper.
Banda said he expects to be ready for next year's spring training, which at least gives the Twins a recovery timeline rather than an open-ended problem. Still, the larger point is clear: the Twins lost a reliever who had been pitching better, and they lost him at a time when the bullpen could least afford it. That is not just an injury update. It is another reminder of how thin the line is between stabilizing a staff and spending the rest of the year trying to patch it.
