Jays acquire hard-throwing but struggling lefty reliever Genesis Cabrera from Cardinals

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Time will tell whether Friday was the genesis of a bunch of activity by the Blue Jays ahead of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline.

The Jays got things started with a minor move, trading for hard-throwing left-handed reliever Genesis Cabrera, who has been in the midst of a down season. In return, the St. Louis Cardinals received catcher Sammy Hernandez. The Athletic first reported the deal, which the Jays confirmed later Friday.

Cabrera, 26, has a career ERA of 4.14 in 174 games, but has been hit hard, giving up lots of contact in 2023, while producing a 5.06 ERA for the disappointing Cardinals.

Hernandez, 19, has split this season between the Florida Complex League team and Single-A Dunedin, combining to bat .213 with 14 extra-base hits and 15 RBI over 42 games. The right-handed hitting catcher was selected by the Blue Jays in the 14^th round of last year’s draft and took part in seven FCL contests.

The Jays designated right-handed reliever Trent Thornton for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

The hope for the Jays is they can help Cabrera reclaim past form and get away from whatever has not been working more recently. Cabrera went 4-1 with a save in 19 appearances in 2020, posting a 2.42 ERA, with a 1.16 WHIP. In his first season with a big workload, 2021, Cabrera again played well for St. Louis. In 70 innings over 71 appearances, Cabrera struck out more than twice as many batters as he walked, and had a 1.26 WHIP. He also only surrendered three home runs that season. Since, things have gone differently. While he still has good control (roughly two strikeouts for every walk, he gave up eight home runs in 44.2 innings last season and six in 32 innings this year before being designated for assignment by the Cardinals. To be fair, all six of those home runs surrendered came in three appearances (April 13, May 18 and June 13 when Cabrera gave up two in each of them).

Cabrera also went from allowing only 52 hits in 70 innings in 2021, when he had 28 holds, to 39 hits allowed in 44.2 last year and 32 hits in 32 innings in 2023.

Cabrera, like Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi, is one of the harder throwing left-handers in MLB and provides a different look out of the bullpen from fellow lefty Tim Mayza.