Cesar Cabral may not be a household name, but he has been on a whirlwind journey the last few days as a result of a behind-the-scenes handshake agreement.  Cabral was a prospect that was left unprotected in the Rule V Draft this past December by the Red Sox.  He was selected by the Rays and as a result joined the Rays Spring Training camp where the 22 year old made three relief appearances this Spring and had a 4.91 ERA over 3 2/3 innings pitched.

On the 12th of March, the Blue Jays acquired Cabral via a waver claim.  The word was, Cabral was possibly part of a trade attempt, and if the trade didn’t happen, the Blue Jays would put him back on waivers. The trade scenario never happened and Cabral was put on waivers again and reclaimed by the Rays.

So what really happened behind the scenes that would make Toronto send Cabral back to the Rays less than 48 hours after acquiring him. Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star sheds some light on the situation and says that a handshake during Toronto’s managerial search is what made Cabral unable to unpack his bags before he was sent away.

When Blue Jay’s GM Alex Anthopoulos contacted Red Sox’s GM Theo Epstein during his managerial search, Epstein allowed him to interview and eventually hire John Farrell (also given permission to interview DeMarlo Hale and Tim Bogar). But Epstein put one condition on the Blue Jays with granting them permission to interview his coaches. The Blue Jays were not allowed to select any Red Sox players during the upcoming Rule V Draft.

So fast forward to this last week.  The Jays select Cabral who was a member of the Sox til the Rays selected him in the Rule V Draft.  After selecting him, the Jays contacted Boston and asked them for names of some of their prospects they maybe interested in, in hopes of working out a trade.  But the players Boston were interested in, the Jays felt was to high a price to pay for Cabral.

Since Toronto and Boston were not able to work out a trade, Cabral was placed back on waivers and claimed again by the Rays.

When Anthopoulos was asked about losing Cabral because of the deal he made, he said he was more than happy to make the deal as it netted them their manager of the future.  And lets face it, for every David Ortiz that is acquired in the Rule V Draft, there is 49 D.J. Houlton’s that never pan out.