The Kansas City Royals took strides to address their lackluster relief pitching depth on Friday after signing a pair of recently outcasted veterans in Luke Jackson and Génesis Cabrera to minor league contracts following their departures from their respective squads earlier last week. Jackson started the year in the New York Mets system where in 4.2 innings in Triple-A Syracuse, he threw to a woeful 11.57 ERA before choosing to opt-out of his deal. Cabrera was released from the Philadelphia Phillies’ system after throwing to a 10.38 ERA in 17.1 innings in Triple-A Lehigh Valley
However, while their 2026 Triple-A lines may not be overly inspiring, the two certainly have track records that make them worthwhile additions. And compared to the Royals’ first minor league addition for their bullpen in Anthony Gose, there’s a lot more reason the believe that these two have a better shot at reaching the Royals this year than he does.
Jackson is best known for his years with the Atlanta Braves where he was a key cog in their 2021 World Series winning bullpen, throwing to a 1.98 ERA that season. Most recently, in a brief stint with the Seattle Mariners in 2025 – throwing to a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings – Jackson made an effort to prove that his best years weren’t behind after undergoing Tommy John in 2022.
Cabrera has bounced around the league himself, but his sub-4.00 ERA seasons 2020 and 2021 with the St. Louis Cardinals, followed by a respectable 3.59 ERA year with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2024, have certainly proved the 29-year-old southpaw had what it takes at one point to succeed in a big league bullpen.
Royals additions of Luke Jackson, Génesis Cabrera aren’t game-changing enough
This is not to say that the Royals shouldn’t have signed these two veteran relievers, as any experienced depth is better than no depth. However, two certainly have their risks and don’t appear to be worth having confidence in if they were to step into the Royals’ bullpen tomorrow.
Apart from keeping the ball on the ground and avoiding barrels, both of which he did to a degree above the 75th percentile in 2025, Jackson is a well-below average arm. This is especially the case when it comes to striking hitters out and avoiding walks, where he posted marks below the 15th percentile last season.
And when it comes to Cabrera, other than mildly above average marks in whiff rates (27.1%) and his 69th percentile fastball velocity of 95.5 mph in ’25, his recent major league track record points to an arm that’s overall below average. Unlike Jackson, Cabrera has the benefit of being under 30 still, but at this point, stats speak louder than age and Cabrera and his 6.54 combined ERA in 2025 just hasn’t proven to be that stat merchant recently.
This means the Royals have to continue to be diligent to in signing names to occupy the depth spots in their relief corps. Eric Cerantola looks strong in Omaha with his 1.50 ERA but struggled in his first two outings as a big leaguer this season. Former Royals middle reliever Jose Cuas has spun a respectable 2.53 ERA, but his control has seen his WHIP sit at a less exciting 1.27 clip. And name like Andrew Perez and Beck Way sport sub-4.00 ERAs this season, but lack the big league experience to really feel confident about either of them in filling an MLB role should the need arise.
Not to mention the aformetioned fellow veteran in Gose is struggling to make an impact in Omaha since singing on. He’s sporting a very bloated 7.20 ERA and 1.80 WHIP across 10 innings of work.
With a pair of Royals relievers in Matt Strahm and Carlos Estévez already on the shelf and names like Bailey Falter, Steven Cruz, Eli Morgan and Alex Lange all occupying middle relief roles with ERAs in high-4.00s and above, the Royals could stand to have some more options to call upon beyond the newly signed Jackson and Cabrera.
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