Per Alex Speier, the Rays have lost Cesar Cabral to the Blue Jays on waivers.
I wrote about Cabral in the last bullpen post and opined that Cesar Ramos was likely to be the left-handed specialist named Cesar out of the pen. The Rule 5 draft can be a useful means in adding an arm, and a specialist reliever seems like the spot if there’s any position in baseball where a player can jump from Single or Double-A into the majors successfully, but it just wasn’t meant to be for Cabral and the Rays.
To clarify, the Rays did not trade Cabral to the Jays. They could have, but finding a trade suitor for someone who has serious restrictions on his contractual flexibility and will be available through waivers within a month’s time seems like a fruitless task. Even if Cabral had passed through waivers, he would have been offered back to Boston. The only way the Rays could have kept and optioned him is through trade.
Cabral is a weird fit on the Jays too. Their bullpen is full of righties on big league deals and David Purcey seemed likely to claim the lefty role. Maybe they think they can add him to another trade to sweeten the pot or they just want to give him a look in case he’s available in this winter’s Rule 5 draft. Either way, this confirms that Cabral is not the player to be named later in the Jason Bartlett trade.
The bullpen now looks like Farnsworth-Peralta-McGee-Ramos or Swindle-Wade-Sonnanstine-Russell(not my choice seeAAA& spring stats) and Eckstrom or Delaney or Gomes or DeLarosa .Next 2 weeks will allow Maddon to choose