Not Everything is Bigger in Texas: Twins Ship Danny Coulombe to Texas Rangers

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

No player in the Twins clubhouse looks less like a big-leaguer when they walk through the door, but Danny Coulombe carries himself so much like one that any doubt gets pulverized quickly. Certainly, whenever he took the mound, he left no doubt—across multiple tenures with the Twins. Now, he'll bring that swagger and that brilliance—with a hefty dose of matchup value to boot—to a playoff hunt. The Texas Rangers looked like sellers for much of this month, but the muddle of the American League and a well-timed charge had them hunting for ways to get a bit better without spending any more money. Jeff Passan was first with this news.

Coulombe, 35, ends his second stint with the Twins having somehow managed to pitch even better than he did in his first. He's made 40 appearances on the year, totaling 31 innings. Using the loophole in the three-batter minimum rule whereby a pitcher isn’t required to return to the mound the next inning if they finish the one they enter, Rocco Baldelli frequently brought in Coulombe to face a dangerous left-handed batter in a middle-innings jam. Coulombe had eight appearances in which he faced just one batter, and three more in which he faced just two. Across those 11 outings, he inherited 15 runners and didn’t allow any to score. In fact, he’s only allowed four of 24 inherited runners to score all year.

With a very high arm slot from his very short stature, the southpaw gives opponents an exceptionally difficult look. That elevated his trade value, almost as much as his superb performance and his affordable contract. He signed a one-year deal worth $3 million in early February, which will end up being roughly $3.2 million as he hits incentives based on games pitched. That leaves only about $1 million to be paid for the balance of the year.

Coulombe has not allowed a home run this year. Left-handed relievers are always in demand at the deadline, and Coulombe is no exception. The Rangers, much in need of bullpen help and with no extra money to spend as they flirt with the competitive-balance tax threshold, were a perfect fit for him, and the two sides found each other with about 100 minutes left before the deadline.

In exchange, the Twins will receive Texas's 6th-round pick from last year's MLB Draft, Garrett Horn. Mark Feinsand broke that news.

Horn was recovering from Tommy John surgery when selected last summer, and has made just nine starts in Low A this year. He's moderately promising. One might have dared hope for a player with either more upside or more proximity to the major leagues, but he's not entirely without merit. It's unfortunate that the Twins couldn't dervie more value from having been so right to reinvest in Coulombe, but that's the nature of one-year deals with middle relievers. The way to derive big value from it would have been to win this year and have Coulombe keep getting big outs into October.

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[Spiritualized]

We have to be almost done moving players. There aren't many left...

[rdehring]

Wow.  Was hoping that with Duran and Stewart already gone they would keep Coloumbe.  

Still waiting on Castro and finding out who they got from the Dodgers, Rangers and Houston.  Also curious who will be playing for the Saints tomorrow as right now they may not have 9 guys left.

[AceBee]

Hoping Castro nets us some worthwhile return (and comes back next season..lol)

[Aggies7]

Griffin Jax showing up in the bullpen tomorrow night

[farmerguychris]

12 minutes ago, AceBee said:

Hoping Castro nets us some worthwhile return (and comes back next season..lol)

At this point, I just hope they didn't give away Castro to the Astros for free to take on Correa's salary.

[CRF]

Castro is gonna be the last domino to fall. 

[Baumer67]

Call up Walker Jenkins

[NYCTK]

16 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Griffin Jax showing up in the bullpen tomorrow night

At least the organization pissed him off right before the trade deadline and still decided to hang on to him. 

[mikelink45]

Let's imagine - Tonkin, Funderburk, Topa, Davis carry the pen, Griffin Jax continues his marvelous 2025 and we bring back Ohl and Adams.  I hope Louie can pitch every day!

[Nshore]

I'm 70  years old but I'm a lefty and could probably pitch an inning or so during garbage time if they need it - and they will need it. 

[exeoud]

For a non-top 30 prospect Garrett Horn. Falvey is absolutely destroying this team on his way out. Gave away Coulombe for free.

[twinstalker]

1 minute ago, exeoud said:

For a non-top 30 prospect Garrett Horn. Falvey is absolutely destroying this team on his way out. Gave away Coulombe for free.

I'm not saying Horn is going to be good, but has hasn't pitched for the Rangers except some very good innings this year, and the top 30 lists aren't getting updated for guys like him until the offseason.  He a lh version of what the Twins look for, and he's likely to fit right into their development system.  If it still exists going forward.  Plus there's probably a good chance the Twins had their eye on him when the Rangers took him in the 6th round last year.

Twins can sign Coloumbe again this offseason.

[Danchat]

Horn didn't crack Fangraphs' top 45 prospects for Texas, but he did get an honorable mention: 

Quote

Horn was last year’s sixth rounder out of Liberty. He’s a vertically-oriented lefty who was 92-95 in his most recent ACL outing prior to list publication. That’s up above the 91-92 he sat in 2024. His breaking pitches are also a few ticks harder now. 

Geez, you'd think we would get something for Coloumbe given his numbers, but we got a guy who isn't even a top 50 prospect in the Texas organization. Horn is already 22 (college draft pick) and only at low A with 18 innings pitched...

[twinstalker]

Castro dealt to Cubs

[Brandon]

7 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

I'm not saying Horn is going to be good, but has hasn't pitched for the Rangers except some very good innings this year, and the top 30 lists aren't getting updated for guys like him until the offseason.  He a lh version of what the Twins look for, and he's likely to fit right into their development system.  If it still exists going forward.  Plus there's probably a good chance the Twins had their eye on him when the Rangers took him in the 6th round last year.

Twins can sign Coloumbe again this offseason.

I was thinking he is a poor man's Preilipp

[Guest]

Horn's not Swiss cheese, has some upside.  Methinks we'll be happy about this in a couple years.

[exeoud]

3 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

I'm not saying Horn is going to be good, but has hasn't pitched for the Rangers except some very good innings this year, and the top 30 lists aren't getting updated for guys like him until the offseason.  He a lh version of what the Twins look for, and he's likely to fit right into their development system.  If it still exists going forward.  Plus there's probably a good chance the Twins had their eye on him when the Rangers took him in the 6th round last year.

Twins can sign Coloumbe again this offseason.

The Giants got a legitimate MLB reliever with 5+ years of control AND 2 more prospects for Tyler Rogers, who is also a rental, has a higher ERA than Couloumbe, AND makes 5.25M vs. 3M for Coulombe. The FO isn't even trying, they know they are all on the way out, ownership told them to cut salary by any means necessary and they're clearly mailing it in.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, exeoud said:

The Giants got a legitimate MLB reliever with 5+ years of control AND 2 more prospects for Tyler Rogers, who is also a rental, has a higher ERA than Couloumbe, AND makes 5.25M vs. 3M for Coulombe. The FO isn't even trying, they know they are all on the way out, ownership told them to cut salary by any means necessary and they're clearly mailing it in.

The Mets gave up more for their lefty as well. This looks like the Twins held out for a lot and got left at the altar.

[Dman]

The return seems light but I think this might turn out pretty well for the Twins.  He was injured and I have to believe he was on the Twins radar in the draft but Texas got to him first. He is just in A ball but pitching well there.  It's a leap of faith pick for sure, but they must feel the potential is higher with this arm than others they were offered.  Will need to give this one time to see how they did.

[RaoulDuke]

Seems like it could be an intriguing arm they liked from previous scouting.

Coulombe has been awesome but is a lefty specialist the Twins, sadly, have no need of.

I'm sure they had a variety of high volatility prospects to choose from and this was their selection. 

[MinnInPa]

15 hours ago, exeoud said:

For a non-top 30 prospect Garrett Horn. Falvey is absolutely destroying this team on his way out. Gave away Coulombe for free.

we have received nothing in return for any trades.. theyre no better than what we already had at A and AA and worse than what we have at AAA

[HrbieFan]

15 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

At this point, I just hope they didn't give away Castro to the Astros for free to take on Correa's salary.

We got a better return for Danny than we did for Carlos. Just mind boggling! Not sure how Falvey can even walk by Bux for months

[Doctor Wu]

10 minutes ago, MinnInPa said:

we have received nothing in return for any trades.. theyre no better than what we already had at A and AA and worse than what we have at AAA

Well, not many of these minor league players we received are truly exciting, except for some of the younger catchers. But reading assessments like this:

He's moderately promising. 

... make me think that the Twins will continue to excel in mediocrity.