Cubs to sign Caleb Thielbar

[Dfan25]

 

Edited December 16, 2025 by Dfan25

[Jason Ross]

Hard to be mad about that. He clearly jelled well with the Cubs' and should be on a relatively easy one-year deal. 

[Guest]

Why?! Why?! I want Imai!

A 38-year-old, and the Cubs are completely ignoring any notion of Imai? And yet again, someone who throws a 4-seam the majority of the time...

Ugh. Happy that we get to keep him, but unhappy at the Cubs' lack of resolve.

Edited December 16, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Derwood]

No one has signed Imai, so to say the Cubs are ignoring him is patently false

[Bertz]

Nice!  

Thielbar and Milner are both similar in that they're almost always hard on lefties but how they do against righties waxes and wanes.  So I'd guess between the two of them we should net out with a LOOGY and a full on 7th/8th inning option.

On the potentially not so nice front, Milner on his own was clearly not a pivot from a real closer.  But are we about to be looking at a Milner/Thielbar/Stanek at ~$15M collectively in lieu of a more surefire closer?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Derwood said:

No one has signed Imai, so to say the Cubs are ignoring him is patently false

I think they're choosing to ignore him and perpetuating the Zorbragenda--the contact-heavy philosophy he champions. I'm just dearly hoping that in the next week, the Cubs choose a pitcher who can throw strikes.

Edited December 16, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Derwood]

Just now, The Cubs Dude said:

I think they're choosing to ignore him and perpetuating the Zorbragenda.

based on on?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Derwood said:

based on on?

1) Zorbro has a contact-heavy philosophy. He shrouds his nonsensical philosophy in scientific and economic terms that can be reduced to rubbish. He would not champion Imai because the fact that he has a divided portfolio.

2) The Cubs seem to be in line with the IFFB metric being stable or something. Sorry, but that's just not true.

3) I have not heard the Cubs say anything about Imai, and he's going to go to the Dodgers or Giants, especially if the Cubs don't actually want to withdraw their extensive reserves.

[Jason Ross]

Just now, Bertz said:

Nice!  

Thielbar and Milner are both similar in that they're almost always hard on lefties but how they do against righties waxes and wanes.  So I'd guess between the two of them we should net out with a LOOGY and a full on 7th/8th inning option.

On the potentially not so nice front, Milner on his own was clearly not a pivot from a real closer.  But are we about to be looking at a Milner/Thielbar/Stanek at ~$15M collectively in lieu of a more surefire closer?

I think that probably is a good read on where the bullpen goes, yeah. It fits with how Hoyer/Hawkins talk about the bullpen and with Palencia, Maton, Thielbar, Milner, Stanek (or a Stanek-stand-in) and likely Rea you're looking at six somewhat stable and reliable arms. Gives the Cubs a little flexibility in terms of MiLB guys (Snider?) and young players to fill it out. 

The hope is that by going with those 3 for $15m instead of like Devin Williams, the Cubs may be signaling more of a willingness to spend on a big-FA player (one Devin Williams would either mean more BP spending or much more spaghetti-throwing). It's not my favorite bullpen plan ever,. but I guess it's not a disaster if the Cubs still grab Imai and a pretty good bat somewhere.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I think that probably is a good read on where the bullpen goes, yeah. It fits with how Hoyer/Hawkins talk about the bullpen and with Palencia, Maton, Thielbar, Milner, Stanek (or a Stanek-stand-in) and likely Rea you're looking at six somewhat stable and reliable arms. Gives the Cubs a little flexibility in terms of MiLB guys (Snider?) and young players to fill it out. 

The hope is that by going with those 3 for $15m instead of like Devin Williams, the Cubs may be signaling more of a willingness to spend on a big-FA player (one Devin Williams would either mean more BP spending or much more spaghetti-throwing). It's not my favorite bullpen plan ever,. but I guess it's not a disaster if the Cubs still grab Imai and a pretty good bat somewhere.

Do you think there's a good chance the Cubs grab Imai?

Who do you think would be a real good bat? And would it be worth the loss of Hoerner for a good bat? 

[Bertz]

8 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I think that probably is a good read on where the bullpen goes, yeah. It fits with how Hoyer/Hawkins talk about the bullpen and with Palencia, Maton, Thielbar, Milner, Stanek (or a Stanek-stand-in) and likely Rea you're looking at six somewhat stable and reliable arms. Gives the Cubs a little flexibility in terms of MiLB guys (Snider?) and young players to fill it out. 

The hope is that by going with those 3 for $15m instead of like Devin Williams, the Cubs may be signaling more of a willingness to spend on a big-FA player (one Devin Williams would either mean more BP spending or much more spaghetti-throwing). It's not my favorite bullpen plan ever,. but I guess it's not a disaster if the Cubs still grab Imai and a pretty good bat somewhere.

Yeah 5 vets, Palencia, one spot reserved for whichever minor league veteran looks best this spring, and one spot for whichever optionable guy looks best this spring?  Very easy to see that being the plan

I would hope we aim higher but A) while I wouldn't be excited by the group I also wouldn't be worried and B) yeah if they do something(s) fun elsewhere it's worth it.

[chibears55]

Thielbar had a nice year for them but let not ignore hes going to be 39, so a drop-off in what he did last season wouldn't be surprising...

Hoyer loves his older bullpen guys, probably because he can get them on 1-2 yr deals.

So far his pen additions are Theilbar (39) Milner (35) and Maton (33)

[squally1313]

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

It's not my favorite bullpen plan ever,. but I guess it's not a disaster if the Cubs still grab Imai and a pretty good bat somewhere.

I know it's still mid December...but....

[Bertz]

21 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Thielbar had a nice year for them but let not ignore hes going to be 39, so a drop-off in what he did last season wouldn't be surprising...

Hoyer loves his older bullpen guys, probably because he can get them on 1-2 yr deals.

So far his pen additions are Theilbar (39) Milner (35) and Maton (33)

Worth noting that these three combined for just under 190 innings at a 3.13 ERA.  You absolutely shouldn't expect that in '26 but there's quite a bit of ground to cede before you worry about them.

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I know it's still mid December...but....

The one thing I keep reminding myself is that if you wanted the Cubs to sign Tatusya Imai, this is probably the exact set-up you'd expect to see that happen:

• Cubs don't sign Cease
• Cubs do little of note at WM
• Reports that leave the Cubs out on King
• Cubs don't go top-end BP
• Little rumors on the Imai front in general on meetings, etc. 

That could also mean the Cubs are just doing what they've done at times, and will get outbid and left in a weird spot, so I don't want to go overboard or say it's happening, only that, I think if the Cubs were going to do that, this is exactly what you'd expect. 

[Hot Sauce]

Signing Thielbar last season: “Meh.”

Signing Thielbar this season: “Welcome back, king!”

[mk49]

I like it, although he's getting old.  I guess Pomeranz will be gone, then.  If Hodge and Brown pitch better, we have enough BP guys, except for a true closer, which is hard to come by.

[Hot Sauce]

Just now, mk49 said:

I like it, although he's getting old.  I guess Pomeranz will be gone, then.  If Hodge and Brown pitch better, we have enough BP guys, except for a true closer, which is hard to come by.

I’m still firmly in the pro-Palencia camp.

[Post Count Padder]

I'm a fan. He did well last year and has been pretty effective most of his career. It won't be expensive and now we have two set lefties in the pen. It's not sexy but it's coming together fine.

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Worth noting that these three combined for just under 190 innings at a 3.13 ERA.  You absolutely shouldn't expect that in '26 but there's quite a bit of ground to cede before you worry about them.

Theyre nice additions, I just find it amusing how Hoyer likes his old bullpen guys and for that matter he seems to always add an older bench bat too.

[Irrelevant Dude]

This is probably fine, but I'm still not thrilled about signing a 39 year old pitcher.

[Tryptamine]

Honestly they're now one good pen arm away from having a very good pen. They still desperately need an arm to slot into the top 3 slots of the rotation and at bare minimum a bench bat that can mash some lefties, but overall it's a good signing.

[mk49]

1 hour ago, Hot Sauce said:

I’m still firmly in the pro-Palencia camp.

If Palencia becomes a good closer, that would be really nice.  I'm hoping Hodge will bounce back, too.

[Hot Sauce]

13 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

This is probably fine, but I'm still not thrilled about signing a 39 year old pitcher.

Rich Hill farts in your general direction.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Just now, Hot Sauce said:

Rich Hill farts in your general direction.

You got me.  I would be happy about signing Rich Hill, but only because he is older than me.