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Rumor: Red Sox Add Veteran Lefty To Bullpen Mix originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Left-handed relief is often one of the most overlooked parts of a roster. While it's not flashy, it's important. While the three-batter minimum means they need to be able to attack both sides of the plate, they're often called on to clean up a mess, inheriting runners and matching up with a left-handed hitter.
The Boston Red Sox lacked left-handed relief help, and reportedly are in agreement with Danny Coulombe on a one-year deal, according to Ken Rosenthal.
Coulombe spent 2025 with the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers. He posted a 2.30 ERA and 3.30 FIP in 43 innings, striking out 24.4% of hitters and walking 10.2%.
He held lefties to a .526 OPS, while righties posted a .614 OPS. Against same-handed hitters, he primarily threw a cutter. He spotted it on the glove side consistently, where it returned a massive 52.9% chase rate and a stellar 23.7% swinging strike rate. He paired it with a sinker, often thrown backdoor, which hitters took for called strikes regularly. The latter pitch had a low zone rate, which limited its overall effectiveness, but it avoided hard contact and returned called strikes when it did land in the zone. He mixed in a four-seam fastball and a sweeper to lefties as well, with limited success.
Against righties, walks were an issue. He handed out free passes to 13.3% of right-handed hitters due to low strike rates with his most-used pitches. His cutter was effective, but his four-seam fastball and sweeper accounted for about half of his pitches, and neither returned a strike rate over 60%. If righties stop chasing his cutter, he could seriously struggle in that department.
Coulombe joins a group that lacks major league experience. Outside of incumbent closer Aroldis Chapman, Jovani Moran has the most major league experience: 95 innings over four seasons. Tyler Samaniego was acquired this offseason and could figure into the mix as well.
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