The Blue Jays have acquired left-handed pitcher Genesis Cabrera from the Cardinals

The Toronto Blue Jays are taking a flyer on a left-handed pitcher.

The St. Louis Cardinals designated Genesis Cabrera for assignment a few days ago and they reached a deal to trade him to the Blue Jays in exchange for catching prospect Sammy Hernandez. The 26-year-old has an electric five-pitch mix with a fastball that averages around 96 miles per hour along with a sinker, slider, change-up, and curve.

Cabrera made his big-league debut during the 2019 season and broke out as a quality strikeout arm over the next couple of seasons. Between 2020 and 2021, Cabrera posted a 3.41 ERA over 92 1/3 innings out of St. Louis’ bullpen and struck out 10.6 batters per nine while walking 5.6 per nine.

In the two seasons since, Cabrera’s strikeout numbers have dipped but his poor command has remained. He posted a 4.81 ERA over 76 2/3 innings for the Cardinals between 2022 and 2023 while striking out 8.2 batters per nine and walking 4.5. His ERA this season ballooned all the way to 5.06.

The Blue Jays have only had one left-handed pitcher in their bullpen all season, Tim Mayza, so it makes sense that they’re taking a gamble on somebody to see if they can catch lightning in a bottle. The prospect whose heading back to St. Louis is one who isn’t ranked in their top 30, as Sammy Hernandez was selected in the 14th round of last summer’s draft.

Cabrera can be optioned to the minors this season but the Blue Jays will need to remove somebody from their 40-man roster in order to make room for him. Adam Cimber was moved to the 60-day Injured List earlier this week in order to make room on the 40-man for Jordan Luplow and the Blue Jays will also need to make room in the coming weeks for Hyun Jin Ryu and Chad Green, two arms who are returning from Tommy John surgery.

The Blue Jays announced that Trent Thornton has been designated for assignment in order to make room for Genesis Cabrera on their 40-man roster. Thornton led the Blue Jays in innings pitched during the 2019 season so they might be able to find another team willing to hand over a depth prospect in exchange for him.