This isn’t a big trade deal, but it certainly continues the thinking that Alex Anthopoulos is doing everything he can to get the Atlanta Braves … and other teams? … ready for playoff baseball.
Depth is a good thing and even at this late date, the Atlanta Braves are insuring that they have enough for the playoffs… though they are probably thinking about a different team.
Tigers announced they've traded LHP Caleb Thielbar to the #Braves for cash considerations. The 32-year-old last pitched in the majors for the Twins in 2015. Thielbar has a 3.30 ERA in 50 appearances with 16BB/92K in 76.1 IP for Triple-A Toledo this year.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) August 31, 2019
Let’s first talk about this “trade”.
A lot of effort was expended in June and July to explain to the world that during this 2019 season, there would be one trade deadline… no waiver deals, no more trades… July 31st and we’re done.
That wasn’t quite the case.
Caleb Thielbar was still eligible to be traded since he’s not on a 40-man roster and doesn’t have a major league contract. The new rule change strictly dealt with players holding major league deals; minor leaguers could be freely traded, though there’s been no rush on that front.
Released players could also be moved around – not via trade, per se – but via waiver claims or free agent signings. This explains how Atlanta got Francisco Cervelli and Lane Adams and Lucas Duda (since released) and Adeiny Hechavarria and Billy Hamilton.
As you can tell from that list, Alex Anthopoulos hasn’t been sitting on his laurels here in August… and that’s the case here again tonight.
About the New Guy
Southpaw reliever Caleb Thielbar is 32½ years old and is essentially the definition of a AAAA pitcher, having short major league runs with the Twins in 2013-2015.
The Tigers picked him up in 2018 and he remained with the organization at their AAA level (the Toledo Mud Hens) for all of this year.
He’s thrown 76 innings, struck out a bunch of hitters (almost 11 per every 9 innings) and walked only a handful while pitching to a 3.30 ERA.
Thielbar is 6’0″/195, was originally a Brewers draftee in the 18th round of the 2009 draft. He hails from Northfield, Minnesota and has a bio pic that looks a bit like a cross between Chipper Jones and Matt Diaz.
So what does Atlanta intend to do with him? That’s a more interesting question.
Calendar Matters
September 1st – Sunday – is “callup day”… the date at which all those on the 40-man roster can be added to the major league active roster.
Before the calendar page turns, though, there’s the August 31st deadline… the one that defines playoff eligibility.
All players in the Atlanta Braves organization as of midnight on August 31st are technically eligible to be placed on a Braves playoff roster. That applies to all major leaguers, all 40-man roster guys, and every single minor leaguer all the way to the Dominican Summer League guys.
That may have influenced the timing of this deal, but the suspicion here is that there’s another role for Thielbar to fill before anything else might happen.
The Gwinnett Stripers are about to win their South division title … though they’re also trying to make the last few days a bit more interesting – they may end up winning the title while backing into the playoffs via a Charlotte Knights loss… the Knights are losing 1-0 with 3 outs to go as this is being written.
UPDATE: Charlotte loses, so the Stripers win the division!
The Atlanta Braves are probably going to call up a relief pitcher or two early next week to give their bullpen a bit more spacing between appearances… great for Atlanta, but not so good for Gwinnett.
The betting here is that Thielbar has been acquired to fill a Gwinnett need more than an Atlanta need… at least for now.
So yes: he’s been acquired for the sake of the playoffs… but it’s the International League playoffs we’re talking about.
Just in Case
As you may recall from earlier discussions, the 40-man roster is essentially full, so any designs of acquiring Thielbar to bring him to the majors would mean that another player would probably be lost to the Braves… and that might be a tough loss to bear.
Thielbar does not need to be given 40-man protection, so he’d fit as an extra arm for the Stripers while another reliever… likely Patrick Weigel or A.J. Minter… gets promoted.
Should the need arise, Thielbar could be added to the 40-man list at any point in the future to replace an injured player or a released player if the Atlanta Braves felt compelled to bring him up.
Still, if you ranked the pecking order here, it’s likely that Darren O’Day is the next reliever (1 IP, 1K tonight for Gwinnett) that might have dibs on a 40-man position… but that’s another topic for another day.
In the meantime, yes: Alex Anthopoulos is indeed still busy and still filling holes… just not always necessarily for the major league club.