Is It Time For Caleb Thielbar To Pass The Baton As The Twins' Primary Lefty Reliever?

[h2oface]

Getting good innings from double pump glitch Caleb has always been lucky. Don’t push our luck. It is running out. 

[JD-TWINS]

On 4/17/2024 at 10:59 AM, bean5302 said:

I expect Baldelli will give the 37yr old (not 38) Thielbar a pretty heavy load until it looks like he can't handle it. The velocity looks good out of the gate so there's reason to expect he can get the outs. Thielbar will finally be a free agent at the end of the year, and I expect there's a good chance he and the Twins part ways at that point. If he puts together a season like 2022 again, I'm sure he'll get picked up by somebody on a $9MM-ish contract. If it's like 2023, more like $5MM-ish. Either way, it seems highly unlikely the Twins will match Thielbar's first free agency payday.

Thielbar is a perfect example of what I really dislike about the free agency rules in MLB. He'll be 38 years old when he first has a chance to reach free agency. I liked the idea of 30 years old or 6 years, whichever is sooner, but it's not really a priority for MLBPA because there's so little value in it for the players as Thielbar is a true rarity. Thielbar would easily have made 10x as much money in his career if he hit free agency at age 30.

If he was a competent pitcher in his 20’s he’d have that opportunity. …….I like Caleb but it’s not “baseball’s fault” that he left the game due to essentially washing out and then found something and came back at 31. Am really glad he has had success!!

I agree - unless Okert tears up his arm this year - I don’t see Thielbar back with the Twins next year, regardless of his possible success this year. ……..Okert is signed & Funderburk looks good in small pieces of 2 different years.

[bean5302]

18 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

If he was a competent pitcher in his 20’s he’d have that opportunity. …….I like Caleb but it’s not “baseball’s fault” that he left the game due to essentially washing out and then found something and came back at 31. Am really glad he has had success!!

I agree - unless Okert tears up his arm this year - I don’t see Thielbar back with the Twins next year, regardless of his possible success this year. ……..Okert is signed & Funderburk looks good in small pieces of 2 different years.

The entire compensation system through arbitration is out of balance, and I think just about everybody understands that. From front offices to players to fans. What makes up for the imbalance during team control is the expectation good players are young and near their prime when they exit team control which grants them the opportunity to secure a lucrative, and often long term or at least multi-year deal which will set them up for life. Not to mention most players sign 6-7 figure signing bonuses out of the gate these days. Players still get the shaft while under team control to make up for the fact many players won't work out and to provide cash flow stability to the franchise operating with existing guaranteed contracts on the books. 

Again, Thielbar will never get the opportunity to get balance from the current CBA. Arguing it's his fault for not being good enough when he was younger is in poor taste, IMHO. I suspect you'd sing a different tune if your employer got to lock you into a job for half your career and pay you 20% of the market rate until you were 60 years old.