KANSAS CITY – The Cubs trading a top prospect for an impact starting pitcher is nothing new.
Jed Hoyer’s front office got aggressive at the trade deadline and shipped away a significant chunk of its top-30 prospect list – including No. 2 ranked Jefferson Rojas – for pitching, making a win-now statement in the process.
But rewind to the offseason, and Hoyer did the same thing, dealing outfield prospect Owen Caissie to the Marlins for righty starter Edward Cabrera, believing he could be a top-of-the-rotation arm for a championship-caliber group.
That was a win-now statement then, somewhat colored in hindsight by the fact that Cabrera hasn’t been that type of pitcher, not yet anyway. Injuries have had plenty to do with it, and after blister issues forced an IL stint, Cabrera has been out for more than a month rehabbing from a hamstring strain.
That rehab process is nearing its conclusion in the wake of the deadline and the addition of multiple pitchers to a Cubs rotation that’s currently thriving – and seeming overflowing with options for Craig Counsell as the team steams toward the postseason.
With newly added righties Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes in the mix alongside lefties Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga – and lefty David Peterson pitching well, too – does that leave room for Cabrera upon his return?
“Those are things that we don’t control,” Cabrera said of the team’s trade-deadline activity, through an interpreter Friday. “Those are things that people upstairs control, and if they believe that those were the additions that we needed, those are the decisions that they made.
“I know all of the guys, and I know they’re all really good players. I know they’re going to help us and contribute.”
The Cubs know you can’t have too much pitching, of course, and with righties Javier Assad and Colin Rea already shifted from needed fill-ins to depth pieces, they’re well prepared for the possibility – in this sport, maybe it’s an inevitability – that they’ll need to lean on that depth before season’s end.
But what becomes of Cabrera?
“I’m here to follow orders,” he said. “Whatever the boss says, whatever they need me to do, I’m going to follow the orders and do anything for the team. Whatever’s necessary.”
He’s working back with plans of being part of that starting group, and he had a strong first minor league rehab start Wednesday, throwing four scoreless innings.
But with visions of playoff baseball dancing in everyone’s heads, maybe Cabrera is a tantalizing relief possibility, as well?
“I think we’re definitely open to doing that,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said Thursday. “He’s got an electric arm. It’d be crazy not to think about him being able to come in in a postseason game and throw the back-end two to three innings of the game.
“It’s important for him to start right now, for sure, and continue to build up. … For us, our goal is to get him back as a starter.
“How things end up at the end of the year? You know how the postseason becomes, it’s an all-hands-on-deck approach, anyway.”
Since Hoyer’s work to stock the Cubs’ pitching cabinet, Counsell has said that any pitcher could be used out of the bullpen come the playoffs. All hands on deck, and all that.
There’s a lot of time to figure out who might be an odd man out of the starting staff come October. Until then, a six-man rotation could be a possibility, at times, but not on a regular basis.
Cabrera needs to wrap his recovery first, and another minor league rehab start is coming Tuesday with Double-A Knoxville. Once that work is complete, we’ll get a better idea of what the team plans for him and all their pitchers.
“The mindset is everybody here is ready to come together and work as one and go out there and give it our absolute best,” Cabrera said. “That’s the mindset that we’re buying into, which will be able to help us in the playoffs.
“I trust all of the guys here. We’re here as one, and we’re here to help the team out.”