MLB Trade Rumors dropped the confirmation on July 9: Banda is done for 2026 after going under the knife for a lat repair. It's the kind of news that barely makes a ripple outside fantasy leagues and Twins die-hards, but it closes the book on a genuinely solid year for the 32-year-old lefty.
Banda landed on the 15-day IL with the lat strain back on June 29, and manager Derek Shelton was blunt about it even then, saying the injury looked significant and Banda was probably looking at months, not weeks. Lat strains are notoriously nasty for pitchers because the muscle is so tied into arm speed and delivery mechanics, and surgery on it usually means a long, cautious rebuild rather than a quick return.
What makes the timing sting is that Banda was rolling. He'd posted a 2-0 record with a 4.46 ERA across 39 appearances and 34 1/3 innings on the season, but he'd been sharpening up right before the injury hit, running a 1.93 ERA over his last 11 outings in June. That's exactly the stretch that gets a middle reliever trusted with higher-leverage innings down the stretch, and now it's just gone.
Banda's path to Minnesota is its own story. He spent 2024 and 2025 with the Dodgers, picking up relief innings during both of Los Angeles's World Series runs, before getting flipped to the Twins in February for international bonus pool space, a classic low-cost, low-risk bullpen add. For a while it looked like a nice value pickup. Now Minnesota has to replace his innings out of the pen for the rest of the year while Banda rehabs toward a 2027 spring training return.
None of this is a franchise-altering blow, but bullpen depth is exactly the kind of thing that quietly decides August and September games. Losing a lefty who was trending up right before the injury is a real subtraction, even if the headlines around it stay small.