Orioles will regret allowing Danny Coulombe to land with their division rival

The Baltimore Orioles' lack of interest in Danny Coulombe this offseason has been perplexing. The biggest holes on the Orioles' roster are in the bullpen. They lack veteran presence, and more importantly, they don't have anyone with an MLB track record of success against left-handed pitching.

Coulombe would have provided both leadership and the ability to get lefties out. With the Red Sox signing Coulombe, the Orioles not only lose out on what he could have provided them, but now he is going to actively contribute to one of the Orioles main competitors for an AL playoff spot.

Orioles repeating a familiar mistake by passing on Danny Coulombe feels like hubris from the front office

This isn't the first time the Orioles have made a mistake when it comes to Coulombe. Last season, they declined his $4 million team option. It wasn't about the money; the Orioles had limited spots in their bullpen and decided to prioritize Cionel Perez over Coulombe. Perez went on to put up an 8.31 ERA in 19 games before getting DFA'd, while Coulombe signed with the Twins and put up a 1.16 ERA in 40 games for them before netting them a pitching prospect at the deadline.

The Orioles prioritized inferior left-handed arms ahead of Coulombe this year as well. Out of all of the left-handed pitchers in baseball that have pitched at least 15 innings over the last three seasons, Coulombe ranked 22nd in opponents' wOBA vs left-handed hitters. By comparison, Keegan Akin ranked 119th, and Dietrich Enns ranked 193rd (dead last).

That's a big difference. There are a lot of really good left-handed hitters in the AL East, and the Orioles have willingly put together a bullpen that is bad at getting those players out. It's going to bite them. They are going to lose important games because they don't have anyone that can be relied upon to come out of the bullpen and get Roman Anthony or Ben Rice out in the 7th inning.

Coulombe would have provided a solution to the Orioles' most glaring weakness for the low, low cost of one million dollars, and the Orioles couldn't be bothered to give him a shot. Even if the Orioles are confident in Akin for some reason, there is reason to think that Enns is better than Coulombe. It would have been worth it to pay Enns his entire contract just to go away and make room for Danny Coulombe. The Orioles can't do that, of course, because doing so would be admitting they were wrong, and this Orioles front office has never been wrong.