{"id":102929,"date":"2025-06-26T20:03:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T00:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=102929"},"modified":"2025-06-26T20:04:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T00:04:18","slug":"pirates-add-left-handed-relief-pitcher-genesis-cabrera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/26\/pirates-add-left-handed-relief-pitcher-genesis-cabrera\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Add Much-Needed Left-Handed Reliever G\u00e9nesis Cabrera on Major League Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced the signing of left-handed relief pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cabrege01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">G\u00e9nesis Cabrera<\/a> to a major league contract. The Chicago Cubs <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/21\/genesis-cabrera-dfa-cubs-nate-pearson-recalled\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">designated Cabrera for assignment<\/a> on Saturday. To make room for the 28-year-old, the Pirates optioned pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/darremi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Darrell-Hicks<\/a> to Triple-A Indianapolis and designated pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/strathu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hunter Stratton<\/a> for assignment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102948\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102948\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-102948\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26425415_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102948\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 11, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Genesis Cabrera (92) reacts after allowing a home run against Philadelphia Phillies infielder Alec Bohm (28) in the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Pirates Sign Left-Handed Pitcher G\u00e9nesis Cabrera<\/h2>\n<p>If nobody saw this move coming, it makes sense in light of recent events. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/borucry01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Borucki<\/a>\u2019s placement on the i<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/21\/pirates-place-borucki-on-il-recall-stratton\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">njured list<\/a> last Saturday left <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/ferguca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caleb Ferguson<\/a> as the sole left-handed pitcher in the Pirates&#8217; bullpen. Cabrera gives manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/kellydo01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Kelly<\/a> a second left-handed option.<\/p>\n<p>Cabrera pitched for the New York Mets and Cubs this season. He has previous major-league experience with the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays dating back to 2019. For his career, he\u2019s 17-14 with five saves, a 4.03 ERA, 1.350 WHIP, and 102 ERA+ in 287 games, including two starts. As recently as 2023, he posted a 2.66 ERA and 0.972 WHIP with Toronto. However, 2025 isn\u2019t going so well. He\u2019s given up 12 earned runs in 17 major-league innings and seven earned runs in eight innings at Triple-A Syracuse.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We have signed LHP G\u00e9nesis Cabrera to a one-year Major League contract.<\/p>\n<p>RHP Michael Darrell-Hicks has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis to make room on the 26-man active roster.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, RHP Hunter Stratton has been designated for assignment to make room on the\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Pirates\/status\/1938351739515899927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Cabrera has some peripheral stats that likely attracted the analytically hip Pirates. For his career, he\u2019s held opponents to a .232\/.329\/.391 slash line. He\u2019s had three seasons where he\u2019s struck out at least 9.4 batters per nine innings. He also carries a 4.02 xERA in contrast to his 6.35 ERA for 2025. This indicates he\u2019s been victimized by soft-hit balls finding holes. Furthermore, he\u2019s been reasonably effective against left-handed batters in 2025. They\u2019re just 5-for-29 against him, although those five hits include a home run and two doubles. With a five-pitch mix that includes a slider, curveball, cutter, four-seam fastball, and splitter, he could be effective if used in the right spots.<\/p>\n<h3>Stratton Designated for Assignment<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s a mild surprise to see the Pirates DFA Stratton and risk losing him on a waiver claim, as he was effective in 2023 and 2024. The Pirates could look to trade him during the waiver process. He doesn\u2019t meet the criteria to elect free agency, and thus would remain in Indianapolis if he\u2019s unclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced the signing of left-handed relief pitcher G\u00e9nesis Cabrera to a major league contract. The Chicago Cubs designated Cabrera for assignment on Saturday. To make room for the 28-year-old, the Pirates optioned pitcher Michael Darrell-Hicks to Triple-A Indianapolis and designated pitcher Hunter Stratton for assignment. Pirates Sign Left-Handed Pitcher G\u00e9nesis Cabrera [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":102947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071,35],"tags":[3351,28961,5108,953],"class_list":["post-102929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","category-news","tag-caleb-ferguson","tag-don-kelly","tag-genesis-cabrera","tag-ryan-borucki"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102929"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102951,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102929\/revisions\/102951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}