Pardon the overly dramatic headline, but it really is hard to believe that the Orioles declined a $4 million club option to retain a reliever who was one of the most effective lefties in the sport last season.
Danny Coulombe was a magician on the mound, frustrating hitters with a confusing pitch arsenal and the guts of a burglar. He had a tiny 2.12 ERA and a miniscule 0.684 WHIP. Guys like that generally stick around until they are too expensive to keep, and he definitely looked like a bargain at the price of that option.
So, what gives?
Well, the most obvious cause for club concern would figure to be the left elbow surgery that cost him more than half of the season. He had bone chips removed in mid-June and did not return until late September, but he came back and allowed just three hits and two walks in five scoreless appearances, including a scoreless inning in the club’s brief playoff run.
Combine that with the fact that he is 35 years old and also missed two-thirds of the 2022 season with a hip injury and the Orioles probably had sufficient reason to be concerned about his durability going forward, but – barring some unknown circumstance — $4 million doesn’t seem like much for a team that just reinforced the tired baseball adage that you can never have enough pitching.
Obviously, O’s executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias isn’t going to say anything that would damage Coulombe’s value on the free-agent market, so we’ll see if other teams are similarly reluctant to pay that much for a guy with his terrific (when healthy) 2024 stats. I’m guessing he’ll get scooped up pretty quick.
It’s also possible that Elias and his analytics department just didn’t think he would replicate those numbers regardless of health or are looking to create a different late-inning chemistry in a bullpen that is expecting to get flame-throwing closer Félix Bautista back from a Tommy John surgery.
Can’t believe it was about the money, since the O’s did pick up the $8 million option on midseason acquisition Seranthony Domínguez and are bringing back left-hander Cionel Pérez, whose 2024 numbers were not in any way comparable to Coulombe’s.
Obviously, some cynical O’s fans are going to look at this as a sign that the new ownership is still going to be stingy with the payroll, but any judgment on that score would be premature. We’ve got the whole offseason to figure that out.