{"id":97246,"date":"2025-09-05T14:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=97246"},"modified":"2025-09-05T14:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:59:13","slug":"report-twins-tough-season-has-one-bright-spark-in-this-minnesota-reliever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=97246","title":{"rendered":"Report: Twins\u2019 tough season has one bright spark in this Minnesota reliever"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"relative z-10\">\n<h3 class=\"my-2.5 text-black font-group-gigantic !leading-[30px] md:!leading-[44px]\">This Minnesota reliever has been a bright spot during a dark time for Twins baseball<\/h3>\n<div class=\"article-intro mb-4 text-darkGrey font-group-large md:font-group-normal lg:font-group-large !mb-2.5 md:mb-5\">Cole Sands has arguably become the Twins&#8217; best bullpen arm since the trade deadline fire sale.<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"mb-0 md:mb-9 relative md:mx-10 md:mb-9\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_360,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 1x,  \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 2x, \n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 1x, \nhttps:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 2x,\n    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FGettyImages%2Fmmsport%2F2%2F01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"Oakland Athletics v Minnesota Twins\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_380,w_7708,h_4335\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/2\/01k4amzed38f4wfp73ew.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland Athletics v Minnesota Twins\" width=\"7708\" height=\"4335\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\"><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Oakland Athletics v Minnesota Twins | Brace Hemmelgarn\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\" class=\"flex flex-wrap justify-center lg:justify-normal\">\n<div class=\"flex lg:mr-4 lg:w-[calc(70%-3em)] max-w-full\"><main class=\"min-w-0 flex-1 odesa-article-main\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"viewablity-block\">\n<div class=\"article-content [&amp;_p]:leading-[30px] [&amp;_p]:md:leading-[28px] [&amp;_li]:leading-[30px] [&amp;_li]:md:leading-[28px]\">\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">While it feels like there are only negatives to take away from the Twins&#8217; 2025 season, there are still some positives regarding the team, including the emergence of Cole Sands.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\"><strong>Cole Sands has emerged as dominant high-leverage reliever for Twins<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Sands started the season on the right foot, posting a 2.89 ERA in 28 innings through June 8. He ran into trouble in June, however, allowing 10 earned runs in 9 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">But since then, Sands has arguably been the Twins&#8217; best reliever who did not get traded.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Since July, Sands has a 2.73 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 32 strikeouts, six walks and five holds in 26 1\/3 innings. Sands pitched in late-game situations plenty of times before the trade deadline, but has seen an increase in high-leverage situations ever since the Twins got rid of nearly their entire bullpen.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\"><strong>Expect Cole Sands to be one of the Twins&#8217; most counted-on relievers in 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Sands, 28, has always had strong stuff, but he has finally been able to use it for good results at the major-league level over the past couple of seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">He had an excellent season in 2024, posting a 3.28 ERA (2.68 FIP) with a 29.1% strikeout rate and 4.1% walk rate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Although he has had a strong 2025 season, Sands&#8217;s stats this year have been overall slightly worse than in 2024; he has a 3.84 ERA (3.35 FIP) with a 23.1% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Still, overall great numbers, which have mainly been hurt due to Sands&#8217;s poor performance in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">One thing Sands has done more often than last year is induce more ground balls, as he has a 44.2% ground ball rate this year compared to a 36.7% ground ball rate last season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Sands has been successful using a five-pitch mix that includes a mid-90s four-seamer (27.5%), high-80s cutter (25.0%), high-80s split-finger (21.2%), low-80s curveball (17.4%) and mid-90s sinker (9.0%).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">If the Twins want to be competitive in 2026,\u00a0rebuilding their bullpen, which ranks 24th in bullpen ERA (4.55) this season, is necessary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">There are many internal options in the minor leagues, and likely some relatively affordable relievers on the 2025-26 free-agent market, but one thing the Twins likely can already count on is Sands playing a significant role in the bullpen next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Minnesota reliever has been a bright spot during a dark time for Twins baseball Cole Sands has arguably become the Twins&#8217; best bullpen arm since the&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Report: Twins\u2019 tough season has one bright spark in this Minnesota reliever - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=97246\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report: Twins\u2019 tough season has one bright spark in this Minnesota reliever - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This Minnesota reliever has been a bright spot during a dark time for Twins baseball Cole Sands has arguably become the Twins&#8217; 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