> they don't have a good story around versioning different libraries. Last I checked, they had a typescript wrapper for jQuery, based on the latest version. Sticking with an older version? No accurate type definitions for you!

Nobody forces you to stay up-to-date with the DefinitelyTyped repository. If you want definitions for version X, look at the definitions that were recent shortly after version X was released. Not completely effortless, but also not a structural, deal-breaking problem like you said.