Rockies 5, Twins 4: Varland Strong in Return, but Four-Run Sixth Frame Costs Thielbar, Twins

Looking for Mr. Thielbar no longer, alas. Caleb has been a rock in the Twins bullpen for so long. But the sun is setting, and the horse is saddled.

So far in June (continued):

Jeffers, .240 OPS (28 PA). Not a misprint.

But Louie...well done tonight.
 

Putting Caleb Thielbar in to take over in the sixth inning, it couldn't be more apparent that the aging lefty was cooked. 

Time to cut bait, but that is not "the Twins way"

"the Rockies punished a handful of relievers"?

Echoing comments of others, but the time has come for Thielbar to be DFA'ed.  Absolutely appreciate his grit and solid performance over the last couple of seasons, but the time has come. Its over.

Saying that, nothing will change as its "not the Twins way"

I sure would've liked to hear Baldelli's postgame explanation (not broadcast) for yanking Varland when he was working on a 1-hit shutout with only 1 walk over 63 pitches through 5 IP. 

Bad bad bad loss! Can’t lose to Colorado! Time to dfa theilbar, he was great last few years but not now! Win series tomorrow all is good!

Rocco goes with his left on left  "match-up" when Varland has given up 1 hit with 60 pitches and the right handed batter hits a 3 run homer off Thielbar who has been awful. Shouldn't we try to actually win the game at this juncture instead of putting in your worst reliever because the Rockies led off the inning with a left handed batter?

13 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Sadly Henriquez, Funderburk and Boushley all went multiple innings today for the Saints. And Eddy Julien 0/5 with three Ks.

 

Guess Jay Jackson could re-emerge..

Jackson isn’t on the 40 though. Could be Winder as well. It would be an odd time to DFA Thielbar after a spot start because then you would have two BP spots to fill. Realistically, if Thielbar is DFA’d, he should get through waivers because of his relatively high salary. I don’t see a team taking a chance on him with the bag he is carrying with him. He would be solid depth at St. Paul just like Jay Jackson.

7 minutes ago, Patzky said:

And Eddy Julien 0/5 with three Ks.

 

 

Time to move on, and for those of you with a man crush, orMon béguin,he has never been considered a top prospect 

The offense could have helped by scoring some runs in the first five innings. Give Varland a lead of two or three runs and they can afford to let him at least start the 6th and see the line up the third time through.

I don’t know if Thielbar is done. He entered having an ERA of 2.84 over his previous 17 appearances. He allowed runs in only 3 of the 17 outings. Was that luck or was something off today?

5 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

 

Oh FFS. Let's impose a mental limit on a player, reinforce it, and never give the player a chance to disprove it. Company line BS.

16 minutes ago, Alex Wilde said:

Jackson isn’t on the 40 though. Could be Winder as well. It would be an odd time to DFA Thielbar after a spot start because then you would have two BP spots to fill. Realistically, if Thielbar is DFA’d, he should get through waivers because of his relatively high salary. I don’t see a team taking a chance on him with the bag he is carrying with him. He would be solid depth at St. Paul just like Jay Jackson.

If another team claims Thielbar, let them have him. At this point he is who he is. If another team thinks they can fix him, let them try.

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Kirilloff needs a reset worse than Julien did. Helman? Kemp? Wallner?  Honestly I'd be ok seeing Thielbar released and keep Varland up as BP help this weekend. 

 

Seems Buxton has been getting a little luck lately, if him. Correa and Lewis could get hot at once that would be helpful.

Agreed...I gave up on Thielbar last year after he surrendered that 2-run homer in the 4th against Houston and took the loss in our last playoff game of 2023. He is out of place as a LOOGY in our brave new "must face at least three batters" world.

Kiriloff is a bigger day-to-day problem, I think. Whatever Lewis exudes at the plate (call it a supreme confidence and joie de vivre?) Kirilloff right now is his polar opposite. He reflects the countenance of a small boy who has just broken the neighbor's window while playing backyard catch and now must face the consequences. He seems very unsure of himself, almost frightened, these days. Whereas Kepler (and I might be wrong) at times seems a bit lackadaisical at the plate, Kirilloff's problems more likely stem from trying too hard and caring too much. If he can find his confidence again, Kirilloff can become a major part of the Twins' quest to make September meaningful this season...time will tell. 

A struggling .500 team would be easier to tolerate if they would get the cooked veterans off the team and hold anyone accountable. Theilbar is cooked. Farmer is cooked. Margot is of no value versus Austin Martin. Vazquez we're stuck with, but catching him 80+ times is idiotic. Kiriloff needs to go down to AAA two weeks ago.

Get Martin, Wallner, Funderburk etc. up here and cut bait with the dead wood. Including the hitting coach, probably. Move Kepler and Jeffers down in the order when they're slumping. These are not difficult adjustments. 

9 hours ago, darwin22 said:

Echoing comments of others, but the time has come for Thielbar to be DFA'ed.  Absolutely appreciate his grit and solid performance over the last couple of seasons, but the time has come. Its over.

Saying that, nothing will change as its "not the Twins way"

I sure would've liked to hear Baldelli's postgame explanation (not broadcast) for yanking Varland when he was working on a 1-hit shutout with only 1 walk over 63 pitches through 5 IP. 

 

 

Over managing at its finest.

Let's go with the youngster's and get the cooked veterans out of here.  And let them play, stop with the third time of the order, LH hitters have to sit against against LH pitchers.  Let them play and give them confidence.  AK looks totally lost, this is a massive failure on the coaching staff.  What would happen if they just let him play and not sit him halfway thru every game.  This is becoming a self fulfilling prophecy, they can't hit lefties, but they never face them and the couple of times they do, they don't have success.  They can't go thru the order a third time, so pull the pitcher.  Then if they do it one time and they give up a run, they say see we told you so.  Players need to play and learn by playing.

Feeling less optimistic about the Lopez/Arraez trade.  I think Arraez would have given the offense more than Lopez is for pitching.  lopez is making $8 million more with 5.45 ERA while Arraez has a .327 average with 18 RBIs which would rank him 1st in BA and 3rd for RBIs.