PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 27: The Philadelphia Phillies logo is seen on their on deck circle during the game against the Chicago Cubs at Citizens Bank Park on April 27, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Cubs won 5-1. (Photo by Brian Garfinkel/Getty Images)
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The Philadelphia Phillies have enjoyed a sudden surge in the standings after parting ways with a long-time member of the club.
As their season careened out of control, the team made the surprising decision to replace manager Rob Thomson with bench coach Don Mattingly. And while all those involved with the move suggested Mattingly wouldn’t change very much about the day-to-day operations after taking over, he seems to have made a difference.
“The resurgent Phillies improved to 15-4 since interim manager Don Mattingly took over, and they snuck over the .500 mark (at 24-23) for the first time since April 7,” ESPN noted after the Phillies won on Sunday. “The Phillies have won seven of eight games, though they are eight games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East.”
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As the Phillies look to keep the streak going and make up some more ground on the Braves, the team could be looking to shuffle their bullpen soon. The team’s relief corps has a 3.81 ERA so far as compared to the Braves’ unit’s 3.04 ERA, which leads the National League.
But as the Phillies assess their depth options in the minors, it looks like they have lost their patience with veteran reliever Genesis Cabrera, who was released by the Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley IronPigs last week.
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“The southpaw has pitched in the big leagues in seven straight seasons,” Anthony Franco wrote for MLB Trade Rumors when the Phillies signed Cabrera earlier this year. “He backfills their lefty relief depth after the Matt Strahm trade but remains no higher than third on the organizational depth chart behind José Alvarado and Tanner Banks. Philadelphia also has Kyle Backhus, a soft-tossing grounder specialist, on the 40-man roster.”
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On May 13, facing the Rochester Red Wings, he gave up eight earned runs with one strikeout and two walks in just one-third of an inning. That might have been the final straw for the Phillies, as they freed Cabrera up to seek out a potential big-league opportunity elsewhere.
The 29-year-old reliever does have a long enough track record to convince another team to take a chance on him with a new minor-league deal. Across seven years in the majors, including stints with the St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins, he has posted a respectable 4.24 ERA with 303 career strikeouts.
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