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The Cubs have had a strangely quiet offseason, but that may be about to change with the long-rumored and now-reported acquisition of starter Edward Cabrera from the Marlins. It's a deal that gives the Cubs a much-needed boost in the rotation, gives the Marlins a much-needed injection of offensive talent, and clears up some playing time questions on both rosters, so let's get into the implications from each side.

Cubs acquire Edward Cabrera

What it means for Cabrera

The rotation impact here is clear: With Justin Steele recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Cubs pretty desperately needed another arm for the middle part of their rotation, and Cabrera was one of the most exciting on the market. Armed with fastballs that flirt with triple digits and a changeup with the velocity of the average pitcher's fastball, Cabrera has always had en enticing arm, but in 2025, he made real changes to start to live up to the hype. 

Primarily, that means ditching his four-seamer, leaning on a sinker more, and lowering his arm slot. That combination of changes allowed Cabrera to lower his walk rate from an untenable 11.3% rate to a pretty much average 8.3% mark in 2025. He did that without sacrificing strikeouts or quality of contact and led to across the board improvements in both his results and his peripherals. His ERA fell from 4.95 to 3.53, while his xERA fell from 4.74 to 3.99

And now he lands with arguably the best defense in baseball with the Cubs, a team that turned a 4.04 team-wide xERA into a 3.81 actual ERA. That should help cement Cabrera's 2025 breakout and possibly allow him to build on it … if he can stay healthy.

That's always been the issue for Cabrera, who has been on the MLB IL nine times since making his debut back in 2021, including with an elbow sprain last September:

  • 10/1/2021: ring finger injury / blister on right middle finger
  • 4/10/2022: biceps injury
  • 6/15/2022: right elbow tendinitis
  • 10/3/2022: sprained right ankle
  • 6/17/2023: right shoulder impingement
  • 3/28/2024: right shoulder impingement
  • 5/8/2024: right shoulder impingement
  • 3/27/2025: blister on right middle finger
  • 9/1/2025: sprained right elbow

It's worth noting that several of those injuries weren't arm related, but that still leaves us with six separate IL stints in the past four seasons due to right arm injuries. It hasn't sapped Cabrera of the electricity from his arm, but it raises big questions about how likely he is to provide a full season's worth of innings for the Cubs. 

It's a fair question, and it's one that should help keep Cabrera's price reasonable in Fantasy drafts. Yes, it's an improved situation he finds himself in, but Cabrera's biggest obstacle to Fantasy relevance has always been himself, and this trade doesn't change that. His current ADP in early drafts is 200.8, and while that will almost certainly increase after this trade, I'm not necessarily sure it should. He remains a talented, but volatile rotation filler piece, not someone you should draft expecting to be a key piece.

The rest of the fallout for the Cubs

Even after losing Kyle Tucker this offseason, the Cubs had something of a logjam to deal with between the DH and corner outfield spots. This relieves some of the pressure with Owen Caissie out of the picture. That leaves some combination of Seiya Suzuki, Kevin Alcantara, and Moises Ballesteros to man right field and DH. 

If the Cubs are comfortable with Suzuki playing more or less full time in right field, that should benefit Ballesteros, a catcher prospect with little path to playing time behind the plate. Between him and Alcantara, Ballesteros is probably the stronger hitter, though the fact that he'll open the season with just DH eligibility for Fantasy does limit his appeal somewhat. A career .303/.369/.466 hitter in 182 Triple-A games, Ballesteros has potential top-12 upside if he was catcher eligible, but with it looking increasingly unlikely he'll get that, he's just a late-round flier for 2025 Fantasy leagues. 

Marlins acquire Owen Caissie, others

The final details are still being sorted out, but the headliner here is expected to be Caissie, a 23-year-old outfielder who has been a top prospect for years without really getting a chance in the majors. That'll change in 2026, as he joins a Marlins team in desperate need of some thump. 

Caissie hit .286/.386/.5521 with 22 homers in 99 games at Triple-A Iowa in 2025, and that power isn't a fluke. He had a 92.1 mph average exit velocity in 2025 and ranked in the 94th percentile or better in max exit velocity and 90th percentile exit velocity – this is legit plus power. There are also some hit tool concerns as seen by his 27.9% strikeout rate, but Caissie is a selected hitter who will draw a walk and wait for his pitch, and he doesn't have alarming swing-and-miss issues – his 83.4% zone-contact rate is a bit below average, but should be playable.

You add it all up and Caissie has the makings of a three-true-outcomes slugger like Taylor Ward or, perhaps, new teammate Kyle Stowers. The underlying skills are legit and he has ranked as high as 47th among all prospects in MLB Pipeline's rankings in recent years; he was also 49th in BaseballProspectus.com's mid-season update in 2025. 

Does that mean Caissie is going to be an impact Fantasy player in 2025? Certainly not, but he'll get the chance, something it wasn't clear he would ever get in Chicago. The Cubs' refusal to ever fully embrace him despite the need arising multiple times in 2025 is a bit of a red flag, but the truth is, he's going to get the chance to sink or swim in Miami starting on Opening Day. It's a bad lineup and a tough home park, but if Caissie hits like he's capable of, that stuff won't matter very much.

At the very least, Caissie is a viable late-round target in all Fantasy drafts. There is 30-homer upside here in a package that could be relevant in any Fantasy format (but could play up in any leagues that prioritize OBP over batting average). Add him to your sleepers lists now.