Cubs Sign Caleb Thielbar – MLB Trade Rumors

The Cubs announced that left-hander Caleb Thielbar has been signed to a one-year, Major League contract.  Thielbar is represented by Octagon.

Chicago is the seventh different MLB team Thielbar has been a part of since his pro career began as an 18th-round pick for the Brewers in the 2009 draft.  Despite this journeyman resume, all Thielbar’s 320 big league innings over eight seasons have come with the Twins, in two separate stints from 2013-15 and then 2020-24.  That second stretch with Minnesota revived Thielbar’s career entirely, as he had taken on a coaching job in college following the 2019 season before he was lured back with another minor league deal from the Twins.

Thielbar’s second act saw him emerge as a quietly effective weapon out of Minnesota’s bullpen.  He posted a 3.21 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate over 174 innings from 2020-23, inducing a lot of soft contact along with those missed bats and limited free passes.  Over his career, Thielbar has limited left-handed batters to a meager .213/.265/.328 slash line over 553 plate appearances, and his splits against righty-swingers (.240/.310/.401 in 773 PA) is also very respectable, even though right-handed bats have hit Thielbar harder over the last two seasons.

2024 was a much more difficult season, as Thielbar struggled to a 5.32 ERA and his walk rate shot upwards to 11.1%.  The southpaw’s strikeout rate was still above the league average but it also sharply dropped off to 24.5%.  An early-season hamstring strain might have been partially responsible, as Thielbar had an 8.04 ERA in his first 15 2/3 innings of the season before somewhat stabilizing to a 3.98 in his remaining 31 2/3 frames.

More to come…