#bullpen

#bullpen

As first reported by ESPN's Jesse Rogers, the Cubs have re-signed lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar. The southpaw pitched well over 58 innings across 67 appearances, posting a 2.64 ERA and striking out four times as many batters as he walked. Thielbar also did a very good job of keeping the ball in the park, surrendering only five home runs all season.

The first thing I said to him was, 'You're going to sign with the Dodgers, right?'...I sat there for the entire two-hour event and talked up the Dodgers to him the whole time. I don't know if I had a hand in it or not, but I like to say that I was one of the first ones to go heavy and hard after him that he should be a Dodger.

"There's a lot of teams (from which) we have taken incoming calls," president of baseball operations AJ Preller told reporters, as relayed by Acee. "...It's nice when people are calling you, and they have interest in your players. At least then, you have some options. But I think the focus has been on the starting pitching and how do we fill that without taking away from the bullpen or from the lineup."

He exceeded all expectations for that contract, posting a 3.18 ERA (134 ERA+) and 1.108 WHIP across 28 appearances. The lefty stepped into the rotation early in the year when the Blue Jays desperately needed quality innings, then moved to the bullpen following the return of Max Scherzer and the acquisition of Shane Bieber. He remained in that role through the playoffs, where he threw four-and-two-thirds scoreless frames against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 18-inning marathon that was game three of the World Series.

Iglesias, 35, is a right-handed pitcher from Cuba who has pitched at the backend in the backend of the rotation for years. Over his 11 big league seasons, Iglesias has a 2.90 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 736 innings pitched, picking up 253 saves in 291 opportunities. His most recent season was with the Atlanta Braves, where Iglesias posted a 3.21 ERA and 3.31 FIP in 67.1 innings pitched, with a 27.4 K% and 6 BB%.