Anthony Banda is the First Elite Arm for a New Twins Bullpen

[Peter Labuza]

Image courtesy of © Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

While the Dodgers have decided “No Hay Banda” for their bullpen, the Twins declared, “Silencio!” 

Why the Dodgers dropped Anthony Banda is only somewhat clear. While there were concerns over the underlying stats, it is more likely that the team thought the $1.625 million settled number for his first year of Arb would be enough to keep other teams from claiming him through waivers—and if not, get something decent in return. After all, the Dodgers cycled through over 40 pitchers last year, and Banda pitched more innings than some of their top starting arms, often in high leverage situations.

But for the Twins, this is a no brainer pick up. On the first day of Spring Training, Derek Shelton reminded the media scrum of his familiarity with Banda from his Pittsburgh days and declared him “a bulldog [who is] not afraid of taking the ball.” 

Drafted in the 10th Round in 2012 by the Milwaukee Brewers, Banda bounced around over ten different minor league systems and a brief major league stint with the Nationals before somehow landing with the Dodgers in a mid-season trade with the Guardians for cash considerations. However, he made an immediate impact thanks to a few adjustments.

First, the Dodgers lowered his general arm angle 34 degrees as opposed to 43 in 2023, according to Sam Scherer of Dodgers Digest. 

But the big difference came on the slider, which runs about 10mph slower than the mid-90s fastball. According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Dodgers pitching coach Connor McGuiness decided to change his unorthodox slider grip.

Quote

He instructed Banda to try to grip the baseball with a “spike,” digging the nail of his index finger into the seam to impact movement and spin. The instruction was simple: Aim down the middle, throw it like a fastball and let it rip…Rather than loop, the slider moved sharply. Instead of feeling like he was guiding the pitch, he threw it emphatically without sacrificing command.

Banda’s slider, which took almost 40 inches of vertical drop over the last two seasons, ranked only below a few elite arms like Josh Hader, and made him a devastating lefty tool for the eventual World Series winners. During the 2024 postseason run, Banda played critical role after the team's other left handed option, Alex Vesia, got sidelined in the NLCS. Over his ten appearances, Banda allowed only a single run.

In 2025, Banda posted a 3.18 ERA over 64.2 IP last year, appearing in a 70 different games. While he held a 3.34 FIP against lefties, Righties managed a brutal 5.54 FIP. Banda posted one of the worst walk rates in baseball last year, which will need to be fixed.

But even when Banda struggled, he was still one of the most central players for a team whose bullpen looked cooked. As high profile arms like Blake Trienen and Tanner Scott struggled, David Roberts trusted Banda to make almost daily appearances; he received the call three straight days in a row, multiple times throughout the season. Half his appearances came in either high or medium leverage, and others were often because no other trusted arms were available to throw. His numerous appearances netted a 1.2 WPA, only second behind Vesia for the bullpen. Banda’s 2025 postseason did not go as expected—his match-up against Addison Barger in Game 1 of the World Series led to the first even pinch-hit grand slam, which cooked any stats you might see—but the stuff is still there.

If anything, the Dodgers may have overused his slider in 2025. Getting the fastball and sinker back into place could make him a critical piece. And in a team that needs elite arms, Banda has proved his stuff is there.

Banda carried the Dodgers bullpen at times over their two first runs. Now they think he won’t prove useful in the threepeat. At 32, he comes in with more experience than most of the arms and can prove his worth. Under Pete Maki, it would not be unexpected to see the Twins either turn him into a fireman for jams in the mid-innings, or even as an eighth inning man.

Either way, Banda feels like the first real piece to cement the next steps of the bullpen. 
 

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[rdehring]

Guy looks to be a big add for the Twins pen.  Really don't understand why the Dodger DFA'd him?  Seems to make no sense, at least to me.

Is he the best arm, or at least proven arm, in the Twins pen?  Now all they need is Liam Hendriks and Rodgers to show up as the pitchers they were a couple years ago and one of their young starters to be the 2026 version of Louie Varland and all could be good.  Well, some of us old guys can dream, can't we?

 

[DataNerd]

He had a .227 BABIP last year (career .312).  Don't buy that he is going to get near his 3.18 ERA that he had last year.  Last year had a 12.7 BB% and is 9.9% for his career.

His 2024 was much better under the hood, so there is definitely hope that he can limit the walks and be a solid pitcher.  But it's not that hard to see why LAD wasn't willing to ride with him again.

[OregonTwinsFan]

He might be the best currently in the Twins pen, but I wouldn't call him elite.

[ashbury]

Yes, because elite arms are routinely found on the DFA list.  We paid a little to jump the line.

[thelanges5]

Dodgers main offseason moves were adding Tucker for Conforto and Diaz for Banda. Must be rough 😂

[TheLeviathan]

We're struggling with the word "elite" here.....

[USAFChief]

elite

 

[CRF]

As others have said...elite is probably going a little too far. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

Propaganda article.

[The Great Hambino]

If everything is elite, then nothing is elite

Take note, PJ

[USAFChief]

45 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

If everything is elite, then nothing is elite

Take note, PJ

Elite post.

[stringer bell]

Concur. Elite is an exaggeration. Banda is like so many other relievers--he might be great, he might be terrible, he'll probably be somewhere in between. It's pretty much a crapshoot.

[Linus]

Complete click bait. Headlines / articles like this degrade the site. 

[Joe A. Preusser]

Stop the hate please.  Nothing wrong with the article title.  He has elite pitches and the vast majority of MLB teams would slot him in for high leverage opps.  

[Alex Wilde]

3 hours ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Propaganda article.

PropaBanda…

[DarrenPS]

Calling him "elite" feels a little aggressive but it's a good pickup that immediately makes us better. Go grab Michael Kopech and you have a solid bullpen

[Whitey333]

Well like normal the Twins propaganda machine known as Twins Daily is over- hyping again.  Banda is a decent pickup.  Elite??  Come on how ridiculous.  He's not even elite on the Twins.   I hope he does well.  At least he is probably on the top of the Twins growing mountain of pitchers rejected by other clubs.

[Otaknam]

At least Banda isn’t a scrap heap reclamation project. And now the Twins have three lefties in the bullpen. Now if they could actually develop a lefty starter, hopefully Rojas. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

Andrew Chafin is also coming on board on an milb. Another LHRP. Throw enough darts maybe one or two will stick.

[LambchoP]

Looks like we have 4 lefties for the pen. We need a late inning righty though. Can we get Kopech cheap, or on a minor league deal?

[Patzky]

17 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

We're struggling with the word "elite" here.....

Andrew Chafin would like to bend your ear.

[D.C Twins]

While he was a smart pick up.... remember that LA used SP almost exclusively in the WS in high leverage bullpen situations. They did NOT trust their bullpen arms.

The Dodgers don't care about money, so it is clear that they did not trust him for this season.

Just because this guy is better than the hot mess that currently exists in our bullpen does not make him 'elite' 

[D.C Twins]

13 hours ago, Joe A. Preusser said:

Stop the hate please.  Nothing wrong with the article title.  He has elite pitches and the vast majority of MLB teams would slot him in for high leverage opps.  

Yes..... The Dodgers make a habit of getting rid of 'elite' bullpen arms for next to nothing...that's why they haven't won a WS since.... (checks notes....).........oh never mind!  

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Andrew Chafin would like to bend your ear.

[Patzky]

2 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Or E-Lite

[LastOnePicked]

Trust me - the Dodgers know the current value of a player far, far better than the Twins.

[twinstalker]

When a team sucks and can't spend much money, the way to spend what you have is on the system.  Build the foundation:  coaches, instructors, international players.  You don't do the opposite.  I guarantee Banda is of zero value.  If he pitches well it won't help.  If he pitches well and gets traded, it will be for something that doesn't ultimately help.  Meanwhile, the Twins are not even saving money by doing this, as it costs about $1 million more than the minimum to have him on the team.

So, they could take that $1.5 million and invest a third in world players and, frankly, use the extra million to support infrastructure.  How they could give up $500k of pool money for Banda is beyond me.  This is assuming we're talking about 2007 money.

[JADBP]

On 2/13/2026 at 11:28 PM, DarrenPS said:

Calling him "elite" feels a little aggressive but it's a good pickup that immediately makes us better. Go grab Michael Kopech and you have a solid bullpen

Go grab Jhoan Duran and you have a solid bullpen.....just sayin.....

Sorry, I couldn't resist