What does Twins’ Bullpen picture look like after landing Lefty Danny Coulombe?

On By Littum

Danny Coulombe is hardly an addition with great influence, but the veteran reliever who agrees to sign one year’s contract of $ 3 million with Minnesota Twins is the proof of life of a front office that had used the whole offseasons on the sidelines and clarifies the team’s bullp – Image on the way into the beginning of spring training next week.

In addition to just being the first player the twins have acquired on a Major League contract, all out of season, via free agency or trading, Coulombe is also their lonely left-handed jug with a Major League agreement. Assuming that they will have at least one left side in the Bullpen were the only options on the 40-man list before Coulombe Geneforeningen Brent Headrick and Kody Funderburk.

Coulombe is 35 years old and has struggled to stay healthy, including a 2022 hip injury that caused him to cut off the twins and an elbow question in 2024 that created the path for his return after Baltimore Orioles turned his team option on 4 million dollars. But unlike Headrick or Funderburk or any of the other leftists in the Twins organization, Coulombe has a track record of big-league success.

Despite his small stature and a fastball that was an average of 91 km/h on average, Coulombe has a 3.52 era in 273 2/3 laps spread over parts of 10 seasons in MLB. And he has gotten better with age, posting a 2.75 era and 3.10 Xera In 127 2/3 laps in the last four seasons with the twins and Orioles. He is a risk of injury, but it is hard to imagine finding a better fit in the bargain.

Back in November, when it became clear that Pohlads did not give Front Office any real expenses on the way out the door, I named Coulombe as a cheap free-agent pass form for the twins. Coincidentally, his $ 3 million salary matches almost the $ 2.4 million dollars that the twins later “have saved” compared to the MLB trade rumors projections when signing their arbitration-eligible players.

Coulombe compensates for medium speed with expert command of a deep bag, adds a cutter by 2023 and uses five seats at least 12 percent of the time last year. It allows him to keep men on both sides of the plate out of balance, which extended more strikes than his raw things would hint and go well versus leftist (.573 ops) and righties (.623 ops) since 2021.

Coulombe is likely to slip into Bullpen’s unemployed No. 1 Lefty role, filled in the last five seasons of Caleb Thielbar, inking a one-year-old $ 2.75 million agreed Chicago Cubs as a 37-year-old free agent. And it’s easy to imagine the other seven seats in the twins’ season -opening bullp, which is filled exclusively by right -wing handlers.

Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Cole Sands are three No-Brainers, and Brock Stewart can be a fourth if he is fully healthy after August Shoulder Surgery. Although Jorge Alcala, Justin Topa and Michael Tonkin are not locked in stains, have guaranteed contracts – albeit for less than $ 2 million each – making them favorites for jobs if they get through the camp healthy.

It is already seven right -wing advisers without even including Louie Varland who have the potential to be one of the twins’ better relief, or Rule 5 chooses Eiberson Castellano who must be on the MLB Program List all season to avoid being offered back To Philadelphia Phillies. There really is no room to carry another left side just to have two of them.

And the reality is that it would take a better left side than Coulombe to push Duran and Jax, and a healthy Stewart, out of high leverage, late-ining matchups against left-wing bats. Instead, the twins appear to use coulombe in the middle laps as a secondary setup somewhere between Sands and Alcala/Topa in the initial gearing hierarchy. He should be a solid fit there.

Apart from a late addition, twins’ bullpen -pecking -order looks like this one that enters the camp:

1. Duran
2. Jax
3. Stewart (If Healthy)
4. Sands
5. Coulombe
6. Alcala
7. Topa (If Healthy)
8. Tonkin
9. Varland
10. Castellano

It’s a pretty strong group fighting over eight spots, with lots of depth and several high upside arms, especially if Stewart is ready for opening day. Of these top 10 names, everyone except Sands, Varland and Castellano has guaranteed 2025 offers, although Alcala and Topa also join them in still being able to be able to minor, despite $ 1.5 million and $ 1,225 million wages respectively.

Tonkin has a contract of $ 1 million and is out of smaller leagues, but the twins could consider placing him on exceptions at the end of the camp if Varland makes a convincing case a opening day job. In this scenario they would risk losing Tonkin for nothing, but if no team claims his $ 1 million contract, he could be stashed in Triple-A St. Paul as depth in the season.

Fangraphs Projects The twins to have MLB’s best overall Bullpen – with 52 laps of a 3.45 era predicted for Coulombe – which is very encouraging. However, it is only reasonable to note that Fangraphs also projected the twins’ Bullpen to be among MLB’s best at this time lasting out of season, and it ended up ranking 19. Out of 30 teams in both ERA and Win probability added.

To predict the future is harsh and predict the collective notions of bullpens are really Hard, but the twins have a good group of legal reloads and Coulombe complement them by filling the left -sided role.

(Photo by Danny Coulombe: Jayne Kamin-Concea / Getty Images)