Chicago Cubs: Edward Cabrera’s rehab outing delivers good news and bad news

The Chicago Cubs are focused on pitching on two fronts.

With less than three full days to go before the August 3 MLB trade deadline, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is reportedly pursuing arms for the run to the playoffs and to give the team the best chance at postseason success.

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However, the team is also looking to restore some of the major league pitching assets lost over the course of the season to injury.

So far, there is more movement on the latter than the former.

On Friday, hard-throwing righty starter Edward Cabrera pitched in his first rehab assignment for the Iowa Cubs. The results were of the good news/bad news variety.

Good news/Bad news on Edward Cabrera

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The good news was that he pitched his 1.2 innings without any reported aggravation of the left hamstring strain that he suffered on June 23 against the New York Mets at Citi Field while attempting to cover first base on a ground ball.

Cabrera’s velocity was also good, reportedly launching his sinker at speeds between 97.7 mph and 98.8—something which means that his arm is still healthy.

The bad news was that he didn’t get positive results on Friday against the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. In the outing, he allowed 3 earned runs over 1.2 innings, walking 2 and giving up 2 hits against 3 strikeouts. Overall, he threw 43 pitches, but only 26 were strikes.

The 28-year-old is currently slated to have two more rehab outings before being considered for a return to the big league starting rotation. If all goes smoothly, a healthy Cabrera could return some time in mid-August, with the August 14-19 homestand against Cardinals and White Sox as the likely target.

An up and down season

Cabrera’s season so far has been the very definition of up-and-down. Over his first seven starts with the Cubs, he posted a 3.27 ERA and was precisely the starting rotation presence Chicago had hoped for when they traded their top prospect Owen Caissie, no. 11 prospect Cristian Hernandez, and 19-year-old talent Edgardo De Leon to get him from the Miami Marlins over the offseason.

Over the last seven starts prior to his injury, though, he struggled. Hampered by a blister and hand cramping issues, he delivered a poor 7.55 ERA during that run.

The hope is that a locked-in, healthy, and rested Cabrera can step in and solidify a Cubs rotation that desperately needs depth as the team heads towards the heat of the pennant race and then the playoffs. The promise of an effective Cabrera could also take some of the pressure from the front office to acquire two starting pitcher by the deadline for the banged up and strained rotation.

Currently, the starting five for the Cubs are Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea, David Peterson, and Javier Assad.

There are some pitchers on the mend and eyed as contributors—such as Hoby Milner, who is also currently on a rehab assignment in Iowa—but those are all bullpen arms. Cabrera is the only starting pitcher pegged for a definite return by the end of the season.

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