The Twins announced four roster moves this morning, including the news that left-hander Danny Coulombe was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left forearm extensor strain. Between Coulombe’s placement and yesterday’s placement of Byron Buxton on the seven-day concussion IL, Minnesota filled those two open roster spots by (as expected) selecting the contract of outfielder Carson McCusker and calling up right-hander Zebby Matthews from Triple-A. Matthews will get the start today in the Twins’ game against the Brewers. To open up a 40-man roster spot for McCusker, infielder Luke Keaschall was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
Coulombe hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, so it would seem that the southpaw’s forearm issue may have been lingering for a few days. As scary as any forearm-related injury seems, Coulombe might miss only a few weeks or a relatively short amount of time if he has only suffered a minor strain. More will be known about Coulombe’s situation or recovery timeline will likely be revealed when manager Rocco Baldelli briefs the media later today.
Coulombe underwent a Tommy John surgery way back in 2011 during his college days at Texas Tech, and he had a more recent elbow issue just last June when he had bone spurs removed. That latter procedure cost Coulombe almost three and a half months of the 2024 season, though he was able to make it back to the Orioles’ roster for a few appearances in late September.
Baltimore still opted to decline its $4MM club option on Coulombe for the 2025 season, and the 35-year-old then entered free agency and signed a one-year, $3MM pact with Minnesota. That deal has proven to be one of the more underrated moves of the entire offseason, as Coulombe has been nothing short of excellent — the lefty has yet to allow a run over his 16 2/3 innings, and he has a stellar 31.7% strikeout rate and 3.3% walk rate. A perfect strand rate and a .205 BABIP hint at some regression, but even those metrics boost Coulombe’s SIERA to only a still-superb 2.18.
This great year has now unfortunately been interrupted by injury, and Kody Funderburk is now the only healthy left-hander in Minnesota’s bullpen. Anthony Misiewicz, Richard Lovelady, and Brady Feigl are at Triple-A if the Twins wanted to add another southpaw, but none of those pitchers are on the 40-man roster. The Twins’ bullpen has been so good this season that they may be able to get by with just one lefty if Coulombe doesn’t miss too much time, but obviously losing Coulombe is a hit to the club’s relief corps.
Simeon Woods Richardson was optioned to Triple-A earlier this week, opening up a spot in Minnesota’s rotation and giving Matthews another crack in the big leagues. One of the Twins’ top pitching prospects, Matthews made his MLB debut in 2024 to mixed results, as he has a 6.69 ERA over 37 2/3 innings. Despite some respectable secondary numbers (24.3% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate), Matthews was undone by the long ball, as he surrendered 11 home runs in his brief time on the Twins’ roster.
Matthews had only 19 innings of Triple-A experience in 2024, but he has looked good during a slightly more extended stint in St. Paul this year. Matthews has a 1.93 ERA, 28.1K%, and 6.7BB% in 32 2/3 Triple-A frames in 2025, with just a lone home run allowed. Getting anything remotely close to this production would be a huge help for the Twins this year and it would reinforce Matthews’ status as a future rotation building block going forward.
Speaking of highly-touted prospects, Keaschall had an 1.065 OPS over his first 26 career Major League plate appearances before he suffered a fractured forearm after being hit by a pitch. Keaschall was put onto the 15-day IL at the end of April and it was just a matter of time before he was shifted to the 60-day, as the infielder is expected to need multiple months to recover.