The Cardinals are planning to designate left-handed reliever Genesis Cabrera for assignment today, reports Katie Woo of The Athletic. They’ll have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers once the move is official.
Cabrera, 26, posted a sharp 3.41 ERA in 92 1/3 innings with the Cards from 2020-21, but he’s never displayed even average command at the MLB level and has struggled over the past two seasons. Dating back to Opening Day 2022, the southpaw carries a 4.82 ERA with a below-average 20.8% strikeout rate and much higher-than-average 11.3% walk rate. Cabrera’s heater averaged 97.9 mph during 2021, arguably his peak season, but that velocity is down two miles per hour from that level in 2023, sitting at 95.9 mph. He’s also been extremely home-run prone dating back to last year, averaging 1.64 home runs per nine innings pitched.
Even with the downturn in velocity and pedestrian strikeout rate over the past two seasons, there’s still some reason to believe Cabrera is capable of more. Averaging roughly 96 mph from the left side is of note, even if that’s down from peak levels, and Cabrera sports a very strong 13.6% swinging-strike rate this season. He’s also induced chases off the plate at an above-average 32.6% clip. There’s little doubt that Cabrera has intriguing raw stuff, and another team may have a different plan to maximize his arsenal.
Beyond his power repertoire, Cabrera is affordable ($950K salary in 2023), controllable and has a minor league option remaining. He entered the current season with just over three years of Major League service time, so he can be controlled through the 2025 campaign. He’s unlikely to fetch a major price in a trade, but another club could view him as an interesting buy-low candidate who could contribute not just this year but for another two seasons.
Cabrera’s DFA figures to be the first of a broad-reaching slate of roster changes for the Cardinals in the next few weeks. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak has already suggested that the 2024 season will be his focus at this year’s deadline, and the Cards are expected to at the very least shop rental players like Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, Paul DeJong and Chris Stratton. Broader-reaching changes are possible — the Cards have a glut of MLB-ready outfielders, for instance — but the Cardinals aren’t expected to trade core players and have given no indication that a larger-scale teardown is coming as a result of this year’s disastrous season.
Who are they going to replace him with Tonight, Tonight, Tonight…whoa oh?
I got it, but it looks like most didn’t! I guess I’m old too!
You guys are corny. That’s all.
You’re taking it all too hard. Mo has the invisible touch.
Leland Sklar can play any bass.
This comment thread is a Land of Confusion.
I’m a fan of Genesis going all the way back to before Phil Collins, but I don’t imagine most will get those song references.
The Cards are in too deep. Mo is just throwing it all away.
This must be some misunderstanding.
Its no fun being an illegal alien.
I prefer “in the beginning…” but it looks like he’s reached the Omega in StL.
Look for Cabrera to be dealt in a bigger trade before the trading deadline.
“Bigger deal” – I’m calling Cabrera and an Imo’s Pizza to the Cubs for actual cancer.
The Cardinals have a lot of pieces they want to trade. Arenado and Goldy stay in St. Luis though.
Is he an illegal alien?
No, chatGBT just confirmed for me that he is registered with the inter-galactic database as a recognized alien licensed for human entertainment.
Right over your head
‘Cause I can’t pitch, but I’m not shocked
The only thing about me is I give lots of walks
It’s all a trick of the tail.
Thank goodness
Some team will claim Cabrera off waivers, or work out a trade for him in the next 7 days.
What if there’s no reply at all?
The Tommy Pham trade tree will be in the record books. That’s all.
Let’s play six degrees of Tommy Pham.
Ooh! Strippers!
Looks like Genesis is making his exodus from the Cardinals
Somewhere there must be a joke about his problems with command(ments).
ABACAB?
I would’ve thought he’d have SOME sort of value besides basically throwing him away. His stuff was tantalizing. Lefties that throw 100 are attractive. Control was an issue but still. Maybe there’s something in the clubhouse we don’t know.
We’re waiting for the Revelation
Jesus He Knows Me
Doesn’t matter if they can’t hit the strike zone. The team has far too many Jeckyl/Hyde relievers that you never know which version you are going to get day to day. They lack the big shut down arms they need. The team leads MLB in blown saves. If they converted even half of those opportunities they are in 1st place in the NLC.
Plus he’s only 26 so he got time to right the ship and become a good/great pitcher.
Good riddance
A lefty, he’ll find a taker…
Yeah, maybe he’ll turn it on again.
I’m a bit surprised, considering he wasn’t costing the team a whole lot of cash and was under contract until ’26. But I guess he was out of options. I don’t think he ever lived up to his full potential. I remember watching him in Springfield and thinking that he looked really promising as a starter.
Genesis didn’t show the Numbers.
The last chapter for Genesis.
In a Revelation to John (Mozeliak).
That’s why he has his Exodus.
Wouldn’t be surprised at all if he ends up being a late bloomer. He’s still got a live arm
Yes, but losing 2 mph off his fastball at age 26 is an ominous sign.
Oh, goody! Another 5+ ERA for the Mets to cycle through on their way to catching the Nationals…
No way! He’s under 30. Too young 4 the Mets
This is probably a good move. In fact, could they DFA Ver Hagen, as well?
we can hope, @Lanidrac!
And the dominos begin to fall… I guess that means O’Neil is coming back tonite.
Braves have a ton of injuries and have Lucas Luetge as their only Lefty in the pen they will get AjMinter and Dylan Lee by the 1st of August but they could use depth and see if one of them pans out if not it’s ok because they have such a big lead they can afford to experiment. And Lefty handed relief pitchers are like cats where they have 9 lives in that they can stink it up and go to another team with a new pitching coach and play lights out.
There must be some misunderstanding. It’s no fun being an illegal alien.
He’d better turn it on again with his next team.
A real team will fix him. He’s just as happy to get out of that dysfunctional organization as they are to get rid of him. Same will be said of Dylan Carlson, Jack Flaherty, Tyler O’Neill, Jordan Montgomery, and Jordan Hicks. They all want out.
This is not Coldplay Cabrera we’re talking about.
Nobody’s asking for their Nickelback however.
Off to the Rays. Will trade Glasnow to create a roster spot.
These are the type of guys to sign to minor league deals, work with them in triple A and see if you can get them back where they were. Guys who actually had success at the big league level at some point.
This seems like the kind of reliever reclamation project the Phillies have gotten very good at in recent yeras.
I don’t understand why they don’t just send him down. I don’t like this at all.
Bryce Harper might have something to say about that since Cabrera almost took his head off.
The only thing worse than the Cardinals’ performance this year are the jokes in this comment section.
It could be worse.
If Blue Baron tries to get a joke in then you know your team is really in trouble.
Ha, I referred to the Cardinals as “we” once and he fired back with “‘we’, what position do you play on the team?”
I bet he sipped his coffee, put his feet up on his desk and just admired his creativity.
You’ll just have to cry to Mama (haha, ohhhh) about it
I resemble that remark!
Romero has 3 good outings and Cabrera becomes expendable?
Must really be a bad teammate.
Must be something. This doesn’t really move the needle one way or another, but I don’t see the point in DFAing him unless there is more to the story. From a pure performance standpoint he’s been worth keeping. He’s been fairly durable as well. He must have forgotten to kiss the ring.
What performance have you been watching? He is absolutely NOT worth keeping on the Major League roster from a performance standpoint. The only odd thing is why they didn’t just demote him to AAA if he indeed does have an option year remaining.
Besides, Romero outplayed him last year, as well.
I didn’t say keep him on the ML roster. I just don’t see the point in getting rid of him. Most teams are trying to stockpile 26 year old lefties that throw that hard. I would be willing to bet Cabrera has a longer career than Romero. But as I said earlier, maybe there is more to the story.
If were to set about fixing the Cardinals, getting rid of Cabrera wouldn’t have been my first priority.
They may be trying to speed up the trade process by putting a deadline on it.
Hmmm. Mo playing hardball. Sounds disastrous.
They want him moved because he still had an option, so they are through with him.
Needs a new beginning
The Baseball gods cursed Genesis after he assaulted Bryce Harper’s face with a 97 mph bullet.
Smiting the Philliestine in the head is in Samuel, not Genesis.
Here lately its seems Cabbie and Gio are either really good or horrible , no in between.
Cards should try to get something out of them via trade.
Scott Harris special right there. Grab him, dump the latest person in the 40 man spot he’s used all year for just that (Tyler Nevin please) and either let Chris Fetter fix him or try to slip him through waiver and stash him as AAA depth. I would imagine someone gives him a chance
I always thought he was better than Super Nintendo Cabrera.
I bet they have a deal almost worked out. If not, they would have just sent him down.
Well, with the signing of Tepara and O’Neill coming back from the 60-Day IL, maybe they needed the 40-man roster spot more than they needed to hang onto Cabrera in AAA?
When he comes into the game, it’s always a BIG INNING.