CHICAGO — Génesis Cabrera isn’t afraid to share his desire to be a key cog in the Cubs’ reliever corps.

“They talked with me — they haven’t given me the role that I deserve yet, but I need to wait to win that role,” the Cubs’ newest left-handed reliever said Friday before the series opener against the Cincinnati Reds. “And when I win it, continuing to do work.”

The 28-year-old has been an effective reliever in his seven-year career, with a 3.88 ERA in 283.1 innings. He made a career-high 71 appearances in 2021 with the St. Louis Cardinals, recording 28 holds, and he was on the playoff roster for their one-game wild-card round loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cabrera’s signing is a familiar trend for the Cubs bullpen this season. They’ve routinely added arms without much pizzazz, but they have struck gold on many of those acquisitions.

Brad Keller, a non-roster invite in spring training, has turned into a hard-throwing, high-leverage arm for manager Craig Counsell. Lefty Drew Pomeranz, acquired in a minor-league trade, has tossed 12.2 scoreless frames to begin his Cubs tenure.

Cabrera was designated for assignment on May 24 by the New York Mets, hit free agency instead of accepting a minor-league assignment, and signed with the Cubs on Thursday. His addition means the Cubs have three southpaws in their bullpen — Pomeranz and Caleb Thielbar are the others.

“We’re continuing to try to just add depth and incrementally upgrade,” Counsell said Friday morning. “And I think we’re going through a stretch of the season right now where I think left-handers are going to help against this team, against the next team; we play the [Washington] Nationals.

“So, just trying to put together the best roster we can every day.”

It’s an ongoing process. Sure, Cabrera isn’t a flashy, headlining lights-out reliever, but the Cubs have proven lately that you don’t need to add that to have success. The bullpen has a 2.67 ERA in May — the third-best mark in baseball — and is 7-for-8 in save opportunities.

That comes at a time when Porter Hodge, who had stepped into the closer’s role after Ryan Pressly’s struggles, landed on the injured list with an oblique strain and three other members (Julian Merryweather, Eli Morgan and Nate Pearson) of their domestic Opening Day bullpen no longer are on the 26-man roster.  

“I think we’ve got a good pitching program here,” Counsell said. “And that’s just incrementally trying to make guys a little bit better. The players deserve a lot of credit for it.

“You never stop looking for those opportunities. And I think that’s something else that the organization here is doing well is just the quest for opportunities and pitching — it’s 365 days. Doesn’t matter offseason, May 28, June 28, August 28 — you’re trying to add pitching and develop pitching.”