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Carson McCusker

Twins Place Danny Coulombe On 15-Day IL, Call Up Zebby Matthews

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 9:04am CDT

The Twins announced four roster moves this morning, including the news that left-hander Danny Coulombe was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left forearm extensor strain.  Between Coulombe’s placement and yesterday’s placement of Byron Buxton on the seven-day concussion IL, Minnesota filled those two open roster spots by (as expected) selecting the contract of outfielder Carson McCusker and calling up right-hander Zebby Matthews from Triple-A.  Matthews will get the start today in the Twins’ game against the Brewers.  To open up a 40-man roster spot for McCusker, infielder Luke Keaschall was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

Coulombe hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, so it would seem that the southpaw’s forearm issue may have been lingering for a few days.  As scary as any forearm-related injury seems, Coulombe might miss only a few weeks or a relatively short amount of time if he has only suffered a minor strain.  More will be known about Coulombe’s situation or recovery timeline will likely be revealed when manager Rocco Baldelli briefs the media later today.

Coulombe underwent a Tommy John surgery way back in 2011 during his college days at Texas Tech, and he had a more recent elbow issue just last June when he had bone spurs removed.  That latter procedure cost Coulombe almost three and a half months of the 2024 season, though he was able to make it back to the Orioles’ roster for a few appearances in late September.

Baltimore still opted to decline its $4MM club option on Coulombe for the 2025 season, and the 35-year-old then entered free agency and signed a one-year, $3MM pact with Minnesota.  That deal has proven to be one of the more underrated moves of the entire offseason, as Coulombe has been nothing short of excellent — the lefty has yet to allow a run over his 16 2/3 innings, and he has a stellar 31.7% strikeout rate and 3.3% walk rate.  A perfect strand rate and a .205 BABIP hint at some regression, but even those metrics boost Coulombe’s SIERA to only a still-superb 2.18.

This great year has now unfortunately been interrupted by injury, and Kody Funderburk is now the only healthy left-hander in Minnesota’s bullpen.  Anthony Misiewicz, Richard Lovelady, and Brady Feigl are at Triple-A if the Twins wanted to add another southpaw, but none of those pitchers are on the 40-man roster.  The Twins’ bullpen has been so good this season that they may be able to get by with just one lefty if Coulombe doesn’t miss too much time, but obviously losing Coulombe is a hit to the club’s relief corps.

Simeon Woods Richardson was optioned to Triple-A earlier this week, opening up a spot in Minnesota’s rotation and giving Matthews another crack in the big leagues.  One of the Twins’ top pitching prospects, Matthews made his MLB debut in 2024 to mixed results, as he has a 6.69 ERA over 37 2/3 innings.  Despite some respectable secondary numbers (24.3% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate), Matthews was undone by the long ball, as he surrendered 11 home runs in his brief time on the Twins’ roster.

Matthews had only 19 innings of Triple-A experience in 2024, but he has looked good during a slightly more extended stint in St. Paul this year.  Matthews has a 1.93 ERA, 28.1K%, and 6.7BB% in 32 2/3 Triple-A frames in 2025, with just a lone home run allowed.  Getting anything remotely close to this production would be a huge help for the Twins this year and it would reinforce Matthews’ status as a future rotation building block going forward.

Speaking of highly-touted prospects, Keaschall had an 1.065 OPS over his first 26 career Major League plate appearances before he suffered a fractured forearm after being hit by a pitch.  Keaschall was put onto the 15-day IL at the end of April and it was just a matter of time before he was shifted to the 60-day, as the infielder is expected to need multiple months to recover.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Carson McCusker Danny Coulombe Luke Keaschall Zebby Matthews

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Twins Place Byron Buxton On Concussion IL

By Nick Deeds | May 17, 2025 at 4:56pm CDT

The Twins are placing center fielder Byron Buxton on the 7-day concussion-related injured list, according to Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. A corresponding roster move won’t be announced officially until tomorrow, though Dan Hayes of The Athletic suggests that outfielder Carson McCusker is traveling to Milwaukee to join the club. Nightengale adds that McCusker is expected to be added to the roster tomorrow, though he’s not yet on the 40-man roster and a corresponding move will be necessary in order for him to replace Buxton.

The decision to place Buxton on the shelf isn’t exactly a surprise given that he collided with shortstop Carlos Correa earlier this week, sending both players to the ground and forcing them both to leave the game. Correa was placed on the concussion IL yesterday, and though Buxton initially remained in concussion protocol he’ll now join Correa on the shelf today. Ryan Fitzgerald was added to the Twins’ roster to replace Correa, but Brooks Lee has taken over shortstop in his absence while DaShawn Keirsey Jr. has filled in for Buxton in center.

Losing Buxton is a particularly harsh blow for the Twins because the oft-injured star has been very healthy to this point in the year. After posting a 142 wRC+ last year while crossing the 100 games played threshold for just the second time in his MLB career, Buxton had played in 41 of the club’s 44 games when the collision occurred while hitting an impressive .261/.312/.522 (130 wRC+) in that time. That star-level offensive production in conjunction with Buxton’s elite defense in center field makes him one of the league’s most valuable players when healthy, but now the Twins will have to figure things out without him for at least the next week.

For however long Buxton is out of commission, it seems the club will turn to McCusker for help in the outfield. Just days shy of his 27th birthday, McCusker has not yet made his MLB debut. A 26th-round pick by the Brewers all the way back in 2017, he ultimately did not sign with the club and played college ball before going undrafted and spending parts of three seasons with the Tri-City Valley Cats of the independent Frontier League. The Twins pried him away from indy ball in 2023 and he’s done nothing but hit since then, with a career .290/.358/.528 slash line in the minors that includes a dazzling .350/.412/.650 performance across 154 plate appearances at Triple-A this season.

While McCusker is getting a late start to his big league career after taking an unusual path to the majors, those titanic numbers in the minors make it hard to deny that he’s ready for an opportunity at the sport’s highest level. A right-handed outfielder, perhaps McCusker can share time in an outfield spot with Keirsey while Harrison Bader and Trevor Larnach continue to hold down everyday spots in the Twins’ outfield mix. While Bader’s 146 wRC+ and Larnach’s 109 wRC+ this year are both good enough that a reduction in playing time seems unlikely, Keirsey has hit just .116/.116/.186 so far this year. A strong performance from McCusker could be enough to give him a leg up over Keirsey for the fourth outfield job when Buxton eventually returns to the roster, particularly considering that his right-handed bat would be a better complement for the lefty-swinging Larnach.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Byron Buxton Carson McCusker

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