The Phillies agreed to a minor league deal with lefty reliever Génesis Cabrera. The agreement was first reported last month by Mike Rodriguez but didn’t appear on the MiLB.com transaction log until this week. The log also indicates that the Phils have also added righty relievers Trevor Richards and Jonathan Hernández, infielder Christian Cairo, and catcher René Pinto in recent weeks.
Cabrera is the likeliest of the group to factor into the early-season plans. The southpaw has pitched in the big leagues in seven straight seasons. He suited up for four different teams last year but struggled to a 6.54 ERA across 40 combined appearances. Cabrera had a mediocre strikeout rate for a second straight season and allowed far too many home runs, which has become an increasing problem.
The 29-year-old Cabrera sits in the 95-96 MPH range with both his sinker and four-seam fastball. The velocity is down from when he was working 97-98 and pitched his way into high-leverage spots with the Cardinals earlier in his career. It’s still above-average for a lefty, though, and Cabrera’s cutter and curveball have each been successful pitches in the past. He backfills their lefty relief depth after the Matt Strahm trade but remains no higher than third on the organizational depth chart behind José Alvarado and Tanner Banks. Philadelphia also has Kyle Backhus, a soft-tossing grounder specialist, on the 40-man roster.
Richards, 33 in May, made five combined appearances last year between the Royals and Diamondbacks. The changeup specialist has pitched parts of eight seasons and topped 60 innings each year from 2021-24. Richards is coming off a 5.19 ERA despite solid strikeout and walk numbers between three Triple-A clubs. He’ll compete for a swing role in Spring Training.
Hernández was a high-leverage arm with the Rangers early in his career who struggled between 2023-24. The 29-year-old sinkerballer signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay last winter. He was injured for most of the season and limited to 12 Triple-A appearances, in which he tossed 12 innings of three-run ball. He averaged 95.3 MPH on his fastball, down almost three ticks relative to his first few seasons in Texas.
Pinto is a veteran depth catcher who hit .231/.263/.404 over 83 games with the Rays from 2022-24. He spent last season in the minors, striking out at a 31% rate while batting .259/.309/.498 in 64 contests with Arizona and Toronto affiliates. Cairo, a slick-fielding utility player, was a Rule 5 pick by the Braves last offseason. He didn’t make the team and was offered back to the Guardians in Spring Training. He hit .237/.338/.331 across 416 Triple-A plate appearances and qualified for minor league free agency. He’s still looking to make his MLB debut.
Interesting move, considering Cabrera beaned Harper in the head
Harper has a revenge clause in his contract, which DD is obligated to accommodate.
“Thou shalt not beanball”
Genesis Ch. 3
Hopefully Genesis pitch well enough to not get an early exodus.
That will depend on Numbers.
The poor, poor man’s Gregory Soto
Very poor like dollar tree toilet paper poor.
Abacabrera, Genesis has its own Aba-Cabrera
Always thought Genesis Cabrera sounds like the name of a prominent professional wrestler who does missle dropkicks and leg scissor takedowns
If the Dom trades Casti and Bohm, that’s a lot of money to work with….
Worth giving up some 2028 prospects now?
That’s a big signing or two…..
They will be paying all or almost all of Casty’s $20M contract for this year because he basically adds no value to anyone.
Philadelphia Collins
Philadelphia Charlemagne Collins III
A Man must travel….to 6 teams within a year!
Dude throws hard. Just needs help with location.
I can’t help but think he’s Throwing it all away.
Is there nothing I can say
Watched Cabera live many times in StL. He generally has three results, a walk, fly ball or hits you in the face…
Lefthanders hit .197/.295/.394 against Cabrera last year, but righthanders hit .333/.394/.646. You could carry a pitcher like that before the three-batter rule, but hopefully he pitches in the Lehigh Valley for most of 2026.
Pinto might slot ahead of Stubbs on the depth chart, but he has only thrown out 9% of runners in the major leagues. Phillies are still very thin at catcher if they can’t sign Realmuto or maybe Caratini.
So they couldn’t sign Super Nintendo Cabrera
I truly can’t understand what JT is thinking. He doesn’t have a market as far as I can tell. He has a solid 2 year deal from himself since before the winter meetings. His last contract was his big one. He’s a 35 year old catcher and needs to play a lot less to keep effectiveness. IMO