Twins reliever Cole Sands will miss the remainder of the season after he underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery on Tuesday, though the news likely won’t change the way Minnesota approaches the MLB trade deadline.
The Twins made the announcement on Thursday that Sands would the procedure will remove loose bodies and bone spurs in the right elbow of the righty.
Sands will also receive a platelet-rich plasma injection as part of the procedure.
“It’s been obviously kind of a long battle this year with it,” Sands told reporters, according to MLB.com. “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.”
Sands has been dealing with injuries for a good chunk of the season, having to sit out since May due to a right forearm strain before returning to the mound on Sunday when the Twins played the Athletics.
He gave up five runs and recorded a lone out in the rough appearance before being placed right back on the injured list with the right elbow strain.
Sands has an 8.25 ERA in 13 appearances, along with a save and 11 strikeouts.
Even with Sands headed to the IL, the Twins’ plans to address their pitching ahead of Monday’s trade deadline will go unchanged.
General manager Jeremy Zoll made it clear to reporters earlier in the week that the focus would be on improving the bullpen.
“We’re going to focus on finding to continue to improve the bullpen and that’ll be a clear focus,” Zoll said. “Beyond that, we’re going to be open to a variety of creative paths and you never know what might come about. This year in particular feels like the market is taking longer to fully take shape as teams have really used last week, this past weekend and, in some cases, these next few days to finalize their path.”
