A week before pitchers and catchers report, the Minnesota Twins signed their first free agent this off-season.

Left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe is back with the team on a one-year, $3 million deal after spending the last two seasons with the Baltimore Orioles.

Coulombe was in Minnesota’s bullpen from 2020-22. However, they traded him to the Orioles a few days before Opening Day 2023 for cash considerations.

Coulombe is coming off the two best seasons of his 10-year career in the majors, posting a 2.56 ERA, 2.83 FIP, and a 0.95 WHIP in 81 innings of work over 94 relief appearances with Baltimore.

After reuniting with Coulombe, the Twins won’t be placing the bulk of work they need from one or two left-handed relievers on Kody Funderburk or Brent Headrick.

Funerburk and Headrick are the only two left-handed pitchers on Minnesota’s 40-man roster before reuniting with Coulombe.

However, all three lefties were injured in 2024 and missed two to four months of playing time, making an already depleted position in the bullpen all the more fragile. Coulombe (101 days), Headrick (149), and Funderburk (68) combined to spend 318 days on the Injured List last year.

The Orioles consistently used Coulombe from the start of the season until June 8, when they placed him on the IL with left elbow inflammation.

Headrick started last year in the St. Paul Saints’ starting rotation. However, after two starts, the Saints shut him down with a forearm strain. Funderburk was healthy for most of the season but suffered a left oblique strain in July and missed the final three weeks of the year.

By re-signing Coulombe, they replaced the vacancy left by Caleb Thielbar. The 38-year-old lefty was relatively healthy last year, spending only 17 days on the IL to start the season.

Thielbar still had a career-high ERA (5.32) and WHIP (1.56) in 47⅓ innings of work as Minnesota’s primary lefty reliever.

Coulombe’s back-of-the-baseball card stats indicate he’s an upgrade over Thielbar. Still, there’s reason to be concerned about his durability over a 162-game season. Coulombe is going into his age-35 season, meaning he’ll be more vulnerable to injury.

Funderburk and Headrick also have an injury history and are unlikely to be added to the Opening Day bullpen as a second left-handed option.

The Twins likely signed Coulombe as injury insurance. If Coulombe, Headrick, and Funderburk end up injured, Minnesota only has unproven lefties in the high minors.

Minnesota has four left-handed pitchers at Triple-A St. Paul: Rafael Marcano, Anthony Misiewicz, Jaylen Nowlin, and Aaron Rozek.

Only Misiewicz has major-league experience, pitching in 104 games with the Seattle Mariners from 2020 to 2022. However, he has only made 27 appearances in the majors since the Kansas City Royals purchased his contract from the Mariners on Aug. 1, 2022.

Misiewicz’s major league production isn’t much different from how Funderburk and Headrick have performed at this level.

Marcano hasn’t pitched higher than Double-A and posted a 16.75 ERA in five appearances with the Wind Surge. Nowlin finished his 2024 season debuting with the Saints and pitching in three relief appearances at Triple-A.

Rozek will turn 30 this upcoming August and struggled at Triple-A while he went back and forth between the Saints and Double-A, posting a 2.19 ERA there compared to a 6.23 ERA in Triple-A.

Connor Prielipp is Minnesota’s top left-handed pitching prospect. He finished the 2024 season healthy for the first time since they took him in the second round in 2022. The Twins used Prielipp as a starter at High-A Cedar Rapids.

However, with his injury history, they could use him as a reliever to lessen his workload.

Misiewicz is the only one of these five pitchers who appear to be major league-ready heading into Spring Training.

Therefore, there will be a lot of pressure on Coulombe in his second stint with the Twins to remain healthy and pitch well while the next wave of left-handed relief helps develop.

Going into camp, Couloumbe appears to be fully healed from his elbow inflammation. When Baltimore activated Coulombe from the IL towards the end of the 2024 season, he pitched well in four games.

He didn’t allow a run and only two hits and two walks in 3 ⅔ innings.

He also had a scoreless outing last postseason when the Orioles used him against the Royals in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card series.

The track record Coulombe brings back with him to the Twins is promising after signing his first major league deal with the club.

However, the durability of his health and the other lefty reliever options is still uncertain as the Twins enter Spring Training, trying to improve upon left-handed relief this season.