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Blue Jays demote Nate Pearson to clear roster spot for Genesis Cabrera
Blue Jays reliever Nate Pearson is heading back to Buffalo to make room for Genesis Cabrera.
The Toronto Blue Jays unsurprisingly added newly acquired reliever Genesis Cabrera to their active roster ahead of Sunday's series finale against the Seattle Mariners, but the corresponding roster move was a bit of a curveball.
Toronto demoted right-hander Nate Pearson to triple-A Buffalo to clear room for Cabrera, removing an arm manager John Schneider had relied on for high-leverage innings as of late.
Pearson has been mostly excellent out of the Blue Jays bullpen in 2023, but was rocked for four runs in just one-third of an inning in Saturday's collapse against the Mariners. He also surrendered two runs against the San Diego Padres in his previous outing, but had rattled off eight consecutive scoreless appearances leading up to that one.
The 26-year-old was optioned in order to work on aspects of his game away from a major-league setting, according to Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling. Executing his breaking ball will reportedly be a particular focus during his time in the minors.
Other candidates to have been removed from Toronto's 26-man roster would have been Jay Jackson or Mitch White. Jackson has an option remaining on his contract, meaning the Blue Jays can send him down to triple-A without the fear of losing him to another team. The 35-year-old has been impressive of late, though, holding opponents off the board in each of his past six games and logging a 0.75 ERA on the year.
White, on the other hand, is having a dreadful season, as evidenced by his 7.30 ERA. What complicates matters is that he does not have any minor-league options remaining, so the Blue Jays would have to designate him for assignment if they wanted to remove him from their roster.
The Blue Jays acquired Cabrera from the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday in exchange for catching prospect Sammy Hernandez. Cabrera has a big arm, averaging 95.8 mph on his fastball and striking out 26.6% of the hitters he faces. But the left-hander hasn't been able to translate that into success, as his fWAR over the past two years (-1.0) ranks dead last among the 147 relievers with over 70 innings pitched.
