Edward Cabrera helps Cubs win now and stabilize future rotation

Posted January 09, 2026 3:38 pm

By Sahadev Sharma

From the moment the 2025 season ended, the Chicago Cubs front office has made clear the team needs a starting pitcher. That need was felt in the postseason, where some Cubs officials weren’t shy about their desire to upgrade the rotation.

Acquiring another starter was an idea that team president Jed Hoyer and general manager Carter Hawkins have reiterated all winter long.

Chicago did just that Wednesday, acquiring right-hander Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins for Owen Caissie and a pair of prospects in the rare type of move that both improves their current roster and better positions the club for the future.

As deep as the Cubs are in outfielders — the 2025 draft class saw the Cubs select four outfielders in the first six rounds, three of whom are college bats — the opposite is true for their pitching depth. After Jaxon Wiggins, who has one of the best fastballs in the minors and is seen as a consensus top-100 prospect with a high ceiling, the outlook is bleak.

That matters with Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea all pending free agents after the season. With three years of control left at arbitration rates, the acquisition of Cabrera allows the Cubs not to feel too desperate as they try to rebuild the rotation.

There are those in the Cubs front office who have been enamored with Cabrera for a while now. He was a top target at the last trade deadline, but the cost was too high at that point. It likely dropped — as his elbow started barking in the second half — making the deal more palatable for the Cubs.

Still, make no doubt about it, this deal stings.

Caissie would have been a part of the outfield and DH mix for the big-league club in 2026, and he had the inside track on locking down a starting job by 2027. Left-handed sluggers who have a chance to deliver 30-plus homers annually are hard to find. However, Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon, the two other players being sent to Miami, are closer to lottery tickets than established prospects.

After the season ended, Hoyer pointed out that their elite defense allows them to get strong results on the ball in play and help their pitchers. Hoyer admitted, though, that, “You’re always looking for stuff and strikeouts. We’ll continue to push that.”

The reality is that trying to acquire “stuff and strikeouts” isn’t cheap.

The Cubs were interested in Dylan Cease, a pitcher who brings both attributes, but eventually the cost ($210 million over seven years) proved to be out of their comfort zone. When the Baltimore Orioles acquired Shane Baz for four prospects and a draft pick, it seemed like the cost of a bat-missing starter via trade would also prove prohibitive for the Cubs.

Cabrera has a career 4.07 ERA, only crossed the 100-inning mark in a big-league season once (2025) and has a history of elbow and shoulder issues. That makes the risk high, but is also likely why the cost was mitigated. The Cubs are obviously willing to take that risk because they believe the upside is equally high.

They see a pitcher with a four-seamer and sinker that both sit at 97 mph. Cabrera has a unique changeup, arguably his best pitch, that barely has a three-tick difference from his heaters, bears in on righties and generates strong swing and miss. His breaking balls both get over 40% whiff rate, with the curve looking like the better of the two.

His fastballs do get hit hard, which is likely what has kept him from reaching the ceiling the Cubs believe they see.

Whether they can unlock him and help him reach his full potential will be key, but this is a move the Cubs felt compelled to make. A rotation that last year was 23rd in strikeout rate (20.5%) and fastball velocity (93.4 mph) is helped significantly in both categories by Cabrera’s addition.

His presence also provides Chicago with another arm, something the club lacked at the season’s apex.

In a 3-2 series loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series, Boyd was forced into action on short rest and a struggling Imanaga was pushed with few options to choose from. While the offense didn’t show up at times, including in the season’s final game, it was the lack of starting pitching depth that many in the organization lamented.

A future rotation led by Cabrera, Wiggins and Cade Horton would feature some of the best stuff the Cubs have had with that unit in arguably 20 years. However, that’s painting a very rosy scenario and getting ahead of things.

Right now, Cabrera improves the 2026 roster, which is the primary focus.

The Cubs can still add another bat — there are four big ones still available — and they certainly have the payroll flexibility to do so. Even if they don’t, Moisés Ballesteros is primed to take over the DH spot with Seiya Suzuki in right field. The rest of the lineup could look the same as last season.

As it stands, the Cubs’ work shouldn’t be done. They’ve rebuilt their bullpen and filled it with a good mix of upside and steady veterans. They’ve reeled in their big fish rotation piece. There’s no need for half measures. This is a good offseason. Now the front office has a chance to make it great.