Infielder Asdrubal Cabrera has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain, the Diamondbacks announced. Utilityman Andrew Young was called up from Triple-A to take Cabrera’s spot on Arizona’s active roster.
Cabrera is hitting .240/.332/.385 with five homers over 223 plate appearances this season, and this is already his second IL trip of the year due to his bothersome right hamstring. An earlier strain kept him out of action for three weeks in May and early June, and if this latest injury has a similar recovery timeline, it will greatly decrease Cabrera’s chances of being dealt prior to the July 30 trade deadline. Reports from earlier this week indicated that the Mets had interest in a reunion with Cabrera, who played in New York from 2016-18.
It’s certainly possible the Mets or another team might still acquire Cabrera if they’re confident he’ll be back shortly after July 30, or if he has played in only a game or two prior to the deadline. The injury factor would decrease Arizona’s return in a potential trade, but since Cabrera is a veteran rental player having a decent but unspectacular season, the Diamondbacks likely weren’t expecting to net a huge return anyway. Speculatively, the D-backs could attempt to combine Cabrera with another veteran in a multi-player swap, so the other team gets more than just Cabrera as a potential injury question mark, and Arizona gets more value back in a prospect package.
Cabrera has mostly played third base this season, but his ability to play all over the infield would make him an interesting bench addition for a number of contending teams. There isn’t much to like about his Statcast numbers apart from a solid walk rate, yet Cabrera has still managed a respectable 96 wRC+ in his age-35 season.
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