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    Arbitrary Thoughts: LHP Genesis Cabrera

    The Twins have 10 players currently on their roster who are arbitration eligible. Let's consider each candidate and make a case.
    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    Image courtesy of © Denny Medley-Imagn Images

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    LHP Genesis Cabrera 
    Age on Opening Day 2026: 29 
    Service Time: 5 years, 149 days.

    2023 Salary: $950,000
    2024 Salary: $1,512,500
    2025 Salary: MILB Contract
    2026 MLB Trade Rumor Estimate: $1.4 million

    Background
    Born in the Dominican Republic, Genesis Cabrera signed with the Tampa Bay Rays in November of 2013. He went to the Cardinals in a trade deadline deal that sent Tommy Pham to the Rays. He made his MLB debut as a 22-year-old in May of 2019 and since then has pitched in 312 big-league games. He spent parts of five seasons in St. Louis before being a deadline acquisition of the Blue Jays in 2023. He stayed in Toronto through the 2024 season. 

    2025 Season
    Cabrera signed a minor-league deal with the Mets. After a month in the minors, he was called up to the Mets. He made six appearances before being DFAd. The Cubs claimed him, and he pitched in nine games over about a month on the North Side. He was again DFAd, but this time he was claimed by the Pirates. He pitched in nine games before being released by the Pirates. Shortly after, the Twins had just traded more than half of their bullpen. They signed him to a minor-league contract in early August. He pitched in one game for the Saints before the Twins called him up. He spent the final six weeks of the season in the big leagues. 

    2025 Stats (Overall): 40 G, 42 2/3 IP, 46 H, 18 BB, 35 K, 6.54 ERA, 1.50 WHIP.
    2025 Stats (Twins): 16 G, 14 2/3 IP, 17 H, 11 BB, 13 K, 7.98 ERA, 1.91 WHIP. 

    Twins Depth at his Position (Left-Handed Pitcher): 
    Kody Funderburk - 40-man roster
    Anthony Misiewicz - Arbitration-Eligible
    Triple-A: Aaron Rozek, Christian MacLeod, Kendry Rojas, Connor Prielipp
    Double-A: Gabriel Yanez, Kade Bragg, Jaylen Nowlin, 

    Summary: I would assume that the Twins will want to keep Kendry Rojas and Connor Prielipp as starters, at least early in the season. Bragg is probably the top left-handed relief pitcher prospect in the organization. 

    Why the Twins Should Offer Him Arbitration
    At this time, Cabrera, Anthony Misiewicz and Kody Funderburk are the lone lefties on the Twins 40-man roster. Like Cabrera, Misiewicz is also arbitration eligible. Cabrera has had success in the big leagues. He throws hard and is still on the right side of 30. If Pete Maki (or whoever the Twins' pitching coach is) thinks there is something there, then bring him in. 

    Why the Twins Should Non-Tender Him 
    Cabrera was a minor-league signing a year ago and pitched for four teams during the 2025 season. His stats were not good, so there is no reason to think he’s earned a big-league contract. At this stage, he’s a replacement level type of player. I mean, that’s what he was for the Twins. They traded seven pitchers and five starters in late July; the Twins needed arms. He became a free agent about that time, and the Twins used him as a lefty reliever to finish out the season. 

    Projection: I think that it is an easy decision to non-tender Genesis Cabrera. 

    However, with a fastball at 95 and a sometimes-solid slider, it isn’t crazy to think that with a couple of tweaks, he could again become a solid reliever. He’s also left-handed. He would be a guy I would try to bring back with a minor-league contract with an invitation to big-league spring training. Relievers are volatile from year to year. We’ve seen it many times. One year can be bad and the next solid. 

    What do you think about Genesis Cabrera? Consider his stats and your observations when watching him pitch, and his pitches, are there reasons they should keep him? Easy DFA? Work out some other agreement? What would you do?

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily (including Brewer Fanatic, North Side Baseball), Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects. #GirlDad
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Bodie

    Bodie 539

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    9 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

    Do you? It means "a guy can be signed off the street and provide as good results". That sounds like Cabrera, who is an easy non-tender.

    Good effort to meet the goal of trying to make a case for why the Twins might tender him. But as noted by Seth in the article...he's an easy non-tender.

    No, it doesn't. 

    And no, he wasn't even close.

    S Bart

    S Bart 1,757

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    5 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

    They used 37 pitchers, including Ober, Paddack, Matthews, Lopez and Bradley, who only started; SWR, Ryan and Festa, who each appeared once as a reliever; and Fitzgerald, Clemens, Bride and Castro, who each relieved as position players. So overall, 25 "traditional" relief pitchers.

    They used 38 pitchers in 2022, but I didn't look to see which ones only started and how many position players were used. 

      

    Wow...thanks....doubt it would have been close to that number if not for the July trades

    jmlease1

    jmlease1 15,685

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    13 hours ago, Bodie said:

    No, it doesn't. 

    And no, he wasn't even close.

    "replacement level player" is a specific term of art. and no one is saying it means they were good. If you have negative WAR, you're considered "replacement" level and the team should be able to replace your production with a random free agent.

    This absolutely sounds like Genesis Cabrera, who sucked and was available as a free agent twice last season. Offering him arbitration is a fireable offense IMHO. But the point to the article was to try and find a reason why someone might do it, so Seth got creative and really reached and found a scenario. It's crazy, but it was a theory.

    IndianaTwin

    IndianaTwin 12,329

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    20 hours ago, S Bart said:

    Wow...thanks....doubt it would have been close to that number if not for the July trades

    I didn't go to the work of checking this, but it would be interesting to see how many debuts happened after July 31 compared to previous years. Like you, I'd assume there were significantly more. Comparatively speaking the bullpen makeup seemed relatively stable in the first two-thirds of the year. 

    USAFChief

    USAFChief 79,360

  • Twins Daily Contributor

    • Posted

    6 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

    "replacement level player" is a specific term of art. and no one is saying it means they were good. If you have negative WAR, you're considered "replacement" level and the team should be able to replace your production.

    Minor point, but the idea of "replacement level" is zero WAR, not negative WAR.

    0 WAR is represents a theoretically freely available player who would "replace" your regular players and provide no value in terms of wins. Zero "Wins Above Replacement.

    Your other players are measured against this zero WAR standard. A 4 WAR player is theoretically 4 wins better than a replacement player. Four "Wins Above Replacement."

    There can also be negative WAR players who theoretically cost you more wins than the zero WAR replacement player.

    Not that I believe WAR is very accurate or useful. But that's the theory.

    jmlease1

    jmlease1 15,685

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

    Minor point, but the idea of "replacement level" is zero WAR, not negative WAR.

    0 WAR is represents a theoretically freely available player who would "replace" your regular players and provide no value in terms of wins. Zero "Wins Above Replacement.

    Your other players are measured against this zero WAR standard. A 4 WAR player is theoretically 4 wins better than a replacement player. Four "Wins Above Replacement."

    There can also be negative WAR players who theoretically cost you more wins than the zero WAR replacement player.

    Not that I believe WAR is very accurate or useful. But that's the theory.

    The scale they show at Baseball Reference for WAR lists 8+ as MVP quality, 5+ as all-star, 2+ as starter, 0-2 as Reserve, and less than 0 as replacement level.

    But the difference with any bRef overlap is irrelevant. Regardless, if you're not able to generate positive WAR, you would be considered replacement level, which includes players who produce negative WAR. They don't have an extra category for "so awful you shouldn't be allowed in MLB any longer" or anything to separate out the just 0 to -1.0 from the -1.0 to -2.5. They're all just considered "replacement level". Which describes Genesis Cabrera very very well.

    RaoulDuke

    RaoulDuke 836

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    On 10/7/2025 at 2:53 PM, Nshore said:

    He's left handed so has more lives than a cat.  He reminds me of a left handed version of Alcala - throws hard but always just one tweak away from success - and it never comes.

    Exactly how I think of him, lefty Alcala.

    Sexy in potential, there is a reason he has been on so many teams.



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