Should The Yankees Trade For Edward Cabrera?

Cabrera is coming off a career-best season in which he pitched to a 3.53 ERA, struck out 25.8% of batters, and threw a career high 139.2 innings in 26 starts. This is also a pitcher who’s cost-effective as he’s still under arbitration. He would still allow the Yankees to add either Cody Bellinger or Bo Bichette in free agency.

Cabrera is also 27 years old, has three years of team control, made legitimate command improvements, and had a career-best 8.3% walk rate this year. Cabrera’s average fastball velocity was 96.9 miles per hour, and he had a 30.3% chase rate and a 29.4% whiff rate this past season.

Cabrera has a five-pitch mix, including a changeup, curveball, sinker, slider, and four-seam fastball, with the lowest usage for any of those pitches being 12.7%. The most enticing pitches in his repertoire are the curveball and slider, which have a 45.2% whiff rate and a 43.7% whiff rate, respectively. On top of that, his changeup comes in at up to 96 MPH, which is absurd, as that’s a normal fastball nowadays.

Cabrera’s best-performing pitches in 2025 were his curveball, changeup, and slider, as they had a batting average against of .142, .203, and .207.

Cabrera also had an impressive 47.5% ground ball percentage this season. He’s always been good at inducing ground balls, and when you pair that with his strikeout stuff, this is where things get very intriguing.

This is a young pitcher with impressive stuff, but like basically every other pitcher, Cabrera also comes with his concerns.

What Concerns Does Cabrera Have?

Cabrera is coming off a season in which he threw for both the most innings and had his lowest walk rate. Is that an outlier or a sign of things to come? Entering this season, his 99.2 innings in 2023 were the most innings that he’s ever thrown.

Cabrera has an extensive injury history, having spent 135 days on the injured list since 2023. In 2023, he missed 28 games due to right shoulder impingement syndrome. In 2024, Cabrera missed a combined 67 games once again due to right shoulder impingement syndrome on two separate occasions. In 2025, he missed 12 games due to a blister, three games due to a finger injury, five games for an elbow injury, and 20 games after an elbow strain.

From 2021 onwards, Cabrera’s walk rate was 15.8%, 11.3%, 15.2%, and 11.8%. This is a player with legit command issues outside of the 2025 season.

Another concern for Cabrera is the fact that he struggled with limiting damage contact. This past season, he was in the 22nd percentile in average exit velocity, the eighth percentile in Hard-Hit %, and 45th in Barrel % as well.

The End Of My Edward Cabrera Rant

Cabrera’s an immensely talented pitcher, but there has to be caution when acquiring somebody like him. You don’t want to blow up your farm system or have to rely on him to be one of your best pitchers.

When fully healthy, the Yankees have Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Cam Schlittler, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil, and Will Warren in the major leagues. Even with all this depth, they still need an additional starter pitcher since Cole, Rodon, and Schmidt will be out to begin the season. Gil is also injury-prone, Warren is unproven, and you don’t really want Ryan Yarbrough starting for an extended period.

New York also has young pitching prospects in their farm system, like Elmer Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange, who they’ll want to hold on to. In that case, they still have Ben Hess, Bryce Cunningham, and Chase Hampton as potential trade chips. According to Eric Hubbs of Barstool Sports, Hess and hitting prospect Dillon Lewis would be part of the early framework on a potential deal.

When Cabrera puts it all together, like he did last year, you see why he was such a highly touted prospect. The talent is evident, you just don’t want to overpay for him coming off his best season without remembering his struggles in years past.

The Marlins find themselves in an interesting situation, boasting a wealth of depth in both the majors and minors. They can afford to trade from within, and they are smartly looking to sell high. Miami currently has Cabrera, Eury Perez, Sandy Alcantara, Ryan Weathers, and Braxton Garrett in the major leagues. In the minor leagues, the Marlins have Thomas White, Robby Snelling, and Noble Meyer on the horizon.

If the Yankees believe in Cabrera’s injury medicals and his improvements in 2025, then this would be a good time for them to finally do something major this offseason.