Baltimore Orioles Acquire Reliever Danny Coulombe from Twins

Monday afternoon, three days from Opening Day, the Orioles acquired reliever Danny Coulombe from the Minnesota Twins.

Minnesota had just optioned the left-handed 33-year-old to Triple-A. With the Orioles deciding to bring him to Baltimore, Coulombe will be required to join the 26-man Opening Day roster. To make room on the 40 man roster, rule 5 draft pick Andrew Politi was DFA'd in a corresponding move.

Baltimore Orioles get left handed reliever Danny Coulombe ahead of opening day

Coulombe brings vast experience to the Orioles bullpen as he has appeared in 194 major league games pitching to a 3.92 ERA over his career. He had spent parts of the last 3 seasons with the Twins. Most recently in 2022, the reliever only appeared in 10 games across April and May due to a left hip impingement. On the 60 day-injured list for most of the season, in his limited 12.1 innings, he pitched to a 1.46 ERA and 9 Ks.

The 8-year MLB veteran began his career with the Dodgers when he debuted in 2014 before being traded to the Athletics in September of 2015. Arguably, his best season came in 2017 with the Athletics when he pitched a season-high 51.2 IP with 13 holds and a 3.48 ERA.

The Twins move comes as a bit of a surprise as he had an excellent spring with 9 scoreless innings of baseball along with 13 Ks. Minnesota decided they did not have room for them in their bullpen. Coulombe has played for three different teams across parts of eight seasons. He has a career 4.02 FIP and 1.313 WHIP in addition to his 3.92 ERA, pitching 192 2/3 innings.

As for the Orioles however, they may have been looking for a reliever after deciding to option DL Hall to the minor leagues to start the season and reliever Mychal Givens starting the season on the IL. The Orioles believed the bullpen needed extra stability to start the year and hopefully Coulombe will bring that along with his veteran experience.