Among the many areas of the roster the Minnesota Twins need to address, fixing the bullpen might be at the top of the list. During the team's historic meltdown in September, the bullpen imploding and crumbling to dust was a major reason for why things went do poorly.
This didn't come as a huge surprise to anyone who watched the team be completely unserious about meaingfully adding to the bullpen over the winter. Bringing in guys like Steven Okert, Josh Staumont, and Justin Topa didn't work out and helped contribute to the way things went.
Caleb Thielbar was among the pitchers who proved to be more of a problem than a solution out of the bullpen. He finished the year with a whopping 5.32 ERA and -0.6 WAR, which is exactly why the Twins are likely showing little interest in bringing him back now that his contract has expired.
On Tuesday's episode of Mackey & Judd on SKOR North, Darren Wolfson said what Twins fans are all thinking about the idea of Caleb Thielbar returning to Minnesota next season.
"No interest, so far, in a reunion," Wolfson reported. "Caleb? Sure. But from a Twins' standpoint, nothing quite going on there if you're curious about whether Caleb Thielbar will re-sign with the Twins."
Twins not bringing back Caleb Thielbar shouldn't come as a big surprise
Not bringing back Thielbar isn't so much a plot twist as it is the natural order of things. Nothing about the year he had suggests he's worth bringing back as Thielbar was truly awful for almost the entire season. Things bottomed out in July with back-to-back appearances against the Rockies where he faced eight total batters and recored zero outs.
It's a bummer that things went the way they did, as Thielbar was thought of as a potential big addition before the season as he worked his way back from an injury. Almost as soon as he returned to the bullpen, though, things went south. He gave up three runs in 0.1 innings during his first appearance of the season which set a sour tone for his season.
Somehow he avoided getting DFA'd during the season, but the poor year he had combined with the Twins being allergic to spending money creates a perfect storm for him to not return. Even if Minnesota is interested in spending a little to improve the bullpen, that's money better spent on someone other than Thielbar.
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