Twins Select Danny Coulombe, Designate Jose Godoy For Assignment

The Twins have informed left-hander Danny Coulombe that he’s made the team and formally selected his contract to the 40-man roster, tweets Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In a corresponding move, Minnesota has designated catcher Jose Godoy for assignment.

Coulombe, 32, is in his third season with the Twins organization but is cracking the Opening Day roster for the first time. The well-traveled southpaw has joined the Twins on minor league deals in each of the past three offseasons and has now pitched his way onto the roster for a third straight year. Coulombe tossed 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball this spring, punching out six hitters along the way while allowing just two hits and two walks.

The 2021 Twins used Coulombe quite a bit out of the bullpen (and once as an opener), as he logged 34 1/3 innings of 3.67 ERA ball with a solid 23% strikeout rate and an excellent 5% walk rate. He also tossed 2 2/3 scoreless frames with Minnesota in 2020 and worked to a 1.77 ERA in 20 1/3 Triple-A innings last year, so it’s easy enough to see how he’s made a good impression on the organization.

This will be the eight season in which Coulombe has logged big league time, and if he can sustain his pace from the 2020-21 seasons, the Twins will have the ability to keep him around via arbitration this offseason. He currently has three years, eight days of Major League service time, meaning he can be controlled through 2024. All in all, Coulombe has a career 4.09 ERA with a 22.5% strikeout rate, a 9.4% walk rate and a 53.6% grounder rate in 180 1/3 innings between the A’s, Twins and Dodgers.

As for Godoy, this marks the third time he’s been bumped from a 40-man roster since the lockout lifted. The Mariners tried to pass him through outright waivers but lost him to the Giants, who immediately tried to slip him through waivers themselves. Godoy was with the Giants for just four days before being claimed by the Twins, and he may now find himself going through the process again, as the Twins have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Godoy, 26, made his big league debut with Seattle last year when he appeared in 16 games and batted .162/.225/.189 in a small sample of 40 plate appearances. That rough showing aside, Godoy is a .292/.338/.424 hitter in 412 career Triple-A plate appearances and is generally regarded as a strong defensive catcher. He boasts a career 40% caught-stealing rate and has posted very strong framing marks throughout his minor league career, per Baseball Prospectus.