Edward Cabrera's woes with Cubs show Yankees, Brian Cashman were right all along

Edward Cabrera was one of the hot names attached to the New York Yankees over the offseason as the club was hoping to look to round out the rotation. Fans hoped that the team would go with a high-end, front-of-the-rotation option, and with Cabrera coming off a 3.53 ERA campaign, folks pinned him into the bucket.

Now, we're seeing that classifying Cabrera in that way was never truly accurate and that the Yankees truly dodged a bullet.

Earlier in the year, it was starting to become clear that Ryan Weathers was proving to be a better pitcher than any of the higher-profile ace-adjacent options that they had been linked to, Cabrera included.

Cabrera had an ERA below 3.00 for most of the first month, and wrapped up April with a 3.06 mark. However, he had seen a drastic drop in strikeout rate, while key performance indicators like SIERA and xFIP were sitting in the mid-4s. Then the calendar turned to May, and the right-hander blew up, posting a 5.79 ERA that raised his season mark to 4.00.

When it comes to Cabrera, that's only where the problems begin, as he's now on the IL with a blister issue.

Brian Cashman and Yankees deserve credit for not panicking and caving on Edward Cabrera

In addition to being an inconsistent performer over the years, Cabrera has been a guy who has struggled with availability. Last season saw him post a career high in innings pitched at a whopping 137 2/3.

While it isn't the only malady that Cabrera has suffered, blisters have been a recurring issue for the 28-year-old dating back to 2021. Specifically, the right middle finger has been the one that has plagued him, and it's no surprise that it's the finger that landed him on the IL now.

The Cubs paid a hefty price to acquire Cabrera, who came into 2026 with a 4.07 career ERA. He cost Chicago putfielder Owen Caissie, who at the time was their No. 1 prospect and No. 47 in MLB Pipeline's top 100, plus their No. 11 prospect in infielder Cristian Hernandez, plus another outside the top 30 in infielder Edgardo De Leon.

Compare that with what the Yankees gave up to get Weathers, and it's no contest who the better value was. In fact, a lot of the issues that have plagued Weathers throughout his career, like health and command, apply just as much, if not more, to Cabrera.

For the Yankees to have matched the Cubs' offer, we would have had to say goodbye to George Lombard Jr., plus another top-10 prospect and a lottery ticket, and that might not have even been enough.

For what Cabrera provides, as he's proven this year, that would have been far too much. We could see Ryan Weathers get hurt or fall off a cliff at some point this year, though, stuff-wise, the kind of performance he's been putting together is what has been expected of him all along. Aside from injury, the biggest threat to him is fatigue, given his past durability issues.

For a much cheaper price, pivoting to a guy like Weathers makes a ton of sense based on how we have seen things play out. To that end, we owe Brian Cashman some kudos for having a line he wouldn't cross in the Cabrera negotiations. Some weren't happy at the time, but now, with how things have played out, it's clear the GM made the right choice.

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