Blue Jays Trade Deadline Target: Danny Coulombe 

Minnesota sits 10 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central and five and a half games out of a Wild Card berth with at least five teams to leapfrog. They’ve arguably been more unlucky than bad, but find themselves looking at an uncertain future. The Jays' biggest need ahead of the trade deadline is pitching support, and the Twins have a number of appealing players that have been rumoured to be available.

I’ll start by saying, yes, I would love to have any combination of Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran and/or Griffin Jax on the Jays, but I’m not sure I would love the price tag those kinds of names are going to command. I’m also not sure the Jays have a Daniel Norris-type prospect to offer, and I’m not sure that the high-end Twins pitchers are equivalent to a 2015-era David Price, so we’ll shelve that discussion for now and look elsewhere. The guy I have my eye on at the moment is lefty reliever Danny Coulombe.

The Twins have had 21 players throw at least five innings for them this season (compared to the Jays' 24), and Coulombe has the lowest ERA (1.16), second-lowest FIP (1.96) and seventh-best fWAR (1.0) among those arms. He’s also 35 years old and on a one-year, $3 million contract. He had elbow surgery on his throwing arm in 2024 (while with Baltimore) and has had one stint on the IL this season (left forearm strain) with Minnesota. His acquisition would not be without risk, but the Jays have managed a number of pitchers through IL stints already, and at 35, he would become the oldest arm in the ‘pen, but he is still younger than starters Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt.

Coulombe has a five-pitch mix, leading with his cutter (thrown 39% of the time) and mixing in a sweeper and sinker (21% each) with a sprinkling of his four-seam fastball (16%) to raise hitters' eyes and the rarely seen knuckle curve (4%). The cutter and four-seamer are what he leans on as his put-away pitches (each has a PutAway% around 30%), and they have the highest whiff rate of his pitches, but the soft contact his sweeper generates (hitters have only hit .100 against it) seems to keep hitters off balance. There’s about a 10 mph difference between his four-seamer and sweeper, with the cutter landing right in between.

When he’s healthy, his stuff plays. Righties are only hitting .164 against him (only Brendon Little has a better BAA for the Jays at .154), and he is also keeping lefties in check to the tune of a .211 average. Both of those marks would fit nicely into Toronto's bullpen. His ERA and FIP would be best of the team's pitchers, and his 1.0 fWAR to date would rank him sixth, between Little (1.2) and Braydon Fisher (0.7).

Whose roster spot would he be taking? Fellow lefties Little and Mason Fluharty have shown enough to keep their spots. Justin Bruihl was roughed up in his last outing and would be the first lefty out the door. Chad Green has had a rough time since the All-Star break, and even pre-break, all of his stats were worse than what Coulombe has been putting up in Minnesota. Green would be my pick for the shortest leash and first man removed from the ‘pen to make room.

What would the Jays have to give up to get Coulombe to Toronto? I’m not sure what level of prospect the Twins would ask for, but if they get a haul for one of their star players, they may just have to move Coulombe to make roster room. He was traded by the Twins once already for cash considerations, when they sent him to Baltimore ahead of the 2023 season. This might be an opportunity for the Jays to flex some financial muscle as they did in the Myles Straw trade, which has worked out pretty well so far.

One last note, which shouldn’t swing a trade offer in either direction, but is a fun thing. Baseball Reference lists Coulombe’s nickname as “Frenchie,” and he is the only player in MLB history (as recorded by B-Ref) with that spelling of the nickname. There have been eight other players labeled as “Frenchy,” including, most recently, Jeff Francoeur. Most unbelievable of all, Walt French, who played from 1923-1929, wasn’t one of them - his nicknames were “Piggy” and “Fitz.” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was born in Montreal, but I think it’s time we add another Frenchie.

Stats in article updated prior to games on July 29.