The Phillies announced that outfielder Bryan De La Cruz has been signed to a Major League contract, a day after De La Cruz was released from his previous minors deal with the club.  De La Cruz has been assigned again to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.  To open up a space for De La Cruz on the 40-man roster, Philadelphia designated right-hander Jean Cabrera.

Since signing his original minor league deal back in November, De La Cruz has played only for Lehigh Valley, hitting .254/.343/.426 with 12 home runs over 328 plate appearances.  The Athletic’s Matt Gelb writes that De La Cruz had an out clause in his contract that led to this situation, but it has now been pretty quickly resolved with a spot on the Phillies’ 40-man roster, if not a call-up to the active roster.

De La Cruz is a veteran of five big league seasons, and he posted solid numbers as part of the Marlins’ outfield mix at the start of his career before his numbers started tailing off.  De La Cruz has hit .243/.285/.390 over his last 1298 Major League plate appearances, with 40 homers but not much else to show for his work from the 2023-25 seasons.  The 2025 season saw De La Cruz mostly play at the Triple-A level with the Yankees’ and Braves’ top affiliates, and his MLB work consisted of 16 games and a .453 OPS over 50 plate appearances for Atlanta.

Right field was a weak link for the Phillies even before Adolis Garcia underwent a season-ending lat surgery in June, and the outfield depth was further thinned by Johan Rojas‘ season-ending internal brace procedure to tix a torn UCL.  Rookie Gabriel Rincones Jr. has been getting a lot of the action in right field lately but hasn’t been hitting at all, so Philadelphia could be calling De La Cruz up to the majors sooner rather than later.  De La Cruz could conceivably be at least a stopgap option until the trade deadline, as the Phillies are expected to pursue outfield upgrades.

Cabrera held a spot on the Phillies’ 40-man roster since November 2024, and MLB Pipeline ranks the righty as the 13th-best prospect in the team’s farm system.  Nonetheless, the DFA reflects Cabrera’s nightmarish 2026 season, as the righty has a 9.10 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate, and 10.5% walk rate over 62 1/3 combined innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  Cabrera began the year at Lehigh Valley but was optioned back down to Double-A Reading in May, without any more success in the interim.

It’s an unfortunate step backwards for a pitcher who, heading into the season, appeared like a candidate to make his MLB debut at some point in 2026.  The Phillies now appear to be comfortable with possibly losing Cabrera for nothing on the waiver wire, if another club feels like using a 40-man roster spot on a 24-year-old pitching prospect.  If Cabrera clears waivers, the Phils will outright him off the 40-man and presumably return Cabrera to Double-A to see if he can get on track.