An under-the-radar Mets free agent target to fill a quieter roster need

When it comes to relief pitchers, you mine as well make flash cards with everyone’s name on it and pick at random. How else does one successfully build a relief corps other than to guess as best they can? The New York Mets had some major misses at the start of last season. From Opening Day to the end of the year, only Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino survived the year. The latter probably should have been cut at some point.

Many of the big name free agent relievers this offseason are ones with an abundance of name recognition and history as closers. What about Danny Coulombe?

A name more reminiscent of your grandmother’s favorite detective show from yesteryear, Coulombe is a 10-year veteran who over the last few seasons has been a stable presence in the American League most recently with the Baltimore Orioles.

Danny Coulombe is one of the best non-closers available in free agency for the Mets this offseason

Coulombe spent the last two years in Baltimore going 6-3 with a 2.56 ERA in 81 innings of work. About two-thirds came in 2023. He missed significant time in 2024, tossing just 29.2 innings but with a strong 2.12 ERA. The Orioles actually had a $4 million option on him for 2025. They declined it. What gives?

A little research into Coulombe shows he had a dip in velocity late in the year. Along with this, the Orioles have other left-handed bullpen options. A drop in velocity does bring some concern and yet we know how well some pitchers are able to reinvent themselves. I’d hate to say it’s as easy as having Jeremy Hefner teach him how to throw an awesome sweeper but…

...let’s leave that up to the pros to determine.

Since 2020, Coulombe has a 2.69 ERA which includes parts of three seasons with the Minnesota Twins to start this five-season stretch. Walk rates of just over 2 per 9 in 2023 and at 1.5 per 9 last season would give the Mets a different flavoring in their bullpen. Hair still hasn’t grown back on the heads of some fans which, by proxy, was torn out by Jake Diekman’s inability to throw strikes.

Looking exclusively at last year’s smaller sample, we find a southpaw who was as good against righties as he was lefties. Right-handed batters hit .129/.194/.290 against him versus the .175/.175/.225 results from lefties. Splits like this don’t matter nearly as much in the three-batter minimum era. However, we can look at them favorably to see he isn’t just a LOOGY.

In a free agent class of relievers featuring some bigger names like Tanner Scott, Aroldis Chapman, and a few more, Coulombe can easily go unnoticed. He was never at any point a stud closer. A brief stint with the Milwaukee Brewers in the minor leagues back in 2019 that lasted for just over a month gives him less than six degrees of separation from David Stearns. What does the POBO think of him now?