The Cubs continued to build up their inventory of bullpen arms, adding veteran lefty Caleb Thielbar to the mix before the calendar flipped to 2025.
On Tuesday, the Cubs announced the signing of Thielbar to a one-year Major League contract, giving manager Craig Counsell an experienced southpaw within his relief corps. Given the issues within the bullpen early last season, creating more depth — and finding some lefty pieces in the process — was a must for the North Siders this winter.
Thielbar joins the Cubs after pitching in parts of eight big league seasons with the Twins from 2013-15 and 2020-24. He didn’t pitch in the Majors from 2016-19. The 37-year-old lefty has a 3.38 ERA in 347 career games with Minnesota, amassing 347 strikeouts against 107 walks in 320 innings.
Thielbar has limited left-handed hitters to a .213 average and .593 OPS for his career, compared to a .240 average and .711 OPS against right-handed hitters. Last year, Thielbar struggled against righties (.286 average with an .845 OPS), but still found success against lefties (.244 average with a .653 OPS).
Last season, Thielbar led with a four-seam fastball (93.2 mph on average, per Statcast), using a sweeper, curveball and slider as secondary weapons en route to a 5.32 ERA with 53 strikeouts and 24 walks in 47 1/3 innings (59 appearances). He turned in a 3.21 ERA with 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings in the previous four years combined (179 games).
Prior to adding Thielbar, the Cubs acquired right-handers Eli Morgan (via trade from the Guardians) and Cody Poteet (via trade from the Yankees) this offseason. Chicago also claimed lefty Rob Zastryzny off waivers from the Brewers. The Cubs will likely keep searching for bullpen options, including through non-roster Minor League deals.
Chicago’s current bullpen also projects to feature holdovers in Nate Pearson, Porter Hodge, Tyson Miller, Julian Merryweather and Keegan Thompson. Daniel Palencia, Ethan Roberts, Luke Little, Jack Neely and Gavin Hollowell are other candidates currently on the 40-man roster.
