3 players the Blue Jays should remain patient with, 2 they shouldn’t 

Génesis Cabrera

After coming over to the Jays at the 2023 trade deadline from the St. Louis Cardinals, Génesis Cabrera became a key cog in their bullpen down the stretch in their pursuit of the playoffs. Not only did he perform beyond expectations, he also gave the Jays another lefty they could deploy out of the pen other than Tim Mayza to fully take advantage of key matchups against the opposition. In 29 appearances, Cabrera posted a stellar 2.66 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, giving up just 7 earned runs with 6 walks and 20 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched.

He was looking to carry some of that success into the new season this year. However, it has been nothing but a constant struggle with his control and command so far in his 14 outings to date. Over 13 innings of work, Cabrera has given up 9 earned runs including 3 home runs, 8 walks and 8 strikeouts for a gaudy 6.23 ERA and 1.92 WHIP. He has allowed runners to reach base in every game this season except on two occasions and has seen his strikeout rate drop while his walk rate increase considerably as a result.

The more we observe Cabrera pitch this season, the more he resembles the pitcher he was back in his previous couple of years with the Cardinals in which he struggled than the consistent and reliable one we witnessed last year in a Jays’ uniform. From the way it looks now, his brief two-month stint with the Jays is starting to appear more and more like an outlier performance than a breakout one. As a result, this could be the new realistic norm for him and if that is indeed the case, the Jays may be forced to look for additional bullpen help going forward, whether internally or externally, before it’s too late.