Cardinals (Dobbins) vs Cubs (Cabrera): 08/16/26, 2:15 PM

[Wilson A2000]

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Told you idiots (Cubs) not to let him start another game. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

At what point do Cabrera's teammates get fed up with his lack of production and accountability?  I guarantee there are a lot of guys in the lineup with various aches and pains that have accumulated over the course of the season, but you don't hear them immediately offer up excuses for an 0-4 performance at the plate.

[Stratos]

7 hours ago, CUBDOM4life said:

I feel bad for Assad.  He just keeps doing his job on the mound and gets sent down because he has options.  If I were the Cubs I'd give the guy a nice bonus after the season as a thank you.

[JHBulls]

horsefeathers Brewers

[Soul]

Simply cannot allow Cabrera to blow another game up.  Sure the offense sucked too but this Cabrera character ain’t it.  I’d much rather throw Assad.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Soul said:

Simply cannot allow Cabrera to blow another game up.  Sure the offense sucked too but this Cabrera character ain’t it.  I’d much rather throw Assad.

I wonder if the blister puts him back on the IL.  It didn't sound that serious though. 

At least the other SP's get an extra day off rest I guess.  Important in the summer heat I'd wager.

Guys like Palencia, Milner sound close to returning.  Some decisions may have to be made.  Would be a shame to cut anyone.

[soccer10k]

5 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Shut him down for the season 

And what about all the other starts this year, Edward?

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I bet he gets one more, which would be against the Mariners, who have been terrible offensively and play in a great park to pitch in. If he can't get it done there, I'd imagine it's back to the IL or the bullpen.

[Geographyhater8888]

Losing Swanson makes this weekend from hell a secondary issue. 

Edited Monday at 09:50 AM by Geographyhater8888

[Butch Gernant]

Caleb is in trouble to keep a roster spot, Milner is coming soon.

[Jason Ross]

So...Cabrera got three whiffs in five swings against the harder slider. 

If we ignore literally everything else about yesterday (Swanson, Cabrera not telling about the blister, Cabrera imploding, having Carson Kelly pitch...)...

[17 Seconds]

10 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

I'm glad that people on here are starting to see Cabrera for what he is, and what others have said about him since day 1.  He's always been fools gold.  

i think we all expected him to get hurt, but there was no reason to expect him to be this bad across the board. this is like the worst case scenario of what could have happened (other than serious injury)

[Geographyhater8888]

Cabreras K/9 dipped from 10.1 (23-25) to 7.9. Why? Did the pitching lab tinker with something? This isn’t the same guy who pitched for the marlins.

Edited Monday at 11:05 AM by Geographyhater8888

[Jason Ross]

11 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

I'm glad that people on here are starting to see Cabrera for what he is, and what others have said about him since day 1.  He's always been fools gold.  

Has he been? don't think many were saying since Day 1 that he was just simply a bad pitcher. Yesterday was not a good start. I will say this about yesterday though; I understand where he came from yesterday. He's missed time and he tried to tough it out. We celebrate that stuff in sports when it goes well. But he also needs to have to have selflessness in that moment. He was wrong, but one I will understand from a competitors' standpoint. 

To your broader point: all year has been a struggle but this idea that you and only you saw through the fools gold ignores context. He was great last year. He was a top prospect as well by every industry ranking. He has gnarly stuff. In fact, he had gnarly stuff yesterday. Let's chill on that. He isn't the first SP to struggle with a new organization. He's had injury and I'm not entirely sure he's taking to the new direction. 

Most of the concerns heading into this year was not surrounding his talent but his ability to stay healthy. And while he has had a few knocks, none of them were the injury concerns people had; specifically that he would blow out his elbow. 

I think most people would have assumed given that his elbow is seemingly healthy and that the stuff is there, his season would have been much better than it's been. It's been a bit of a weird one. ZiPS had Cabrera pinned as a sub 4.00 FIP and a 3.88 ERA. Modeling agreed that the concern was the health and less the dude. It's been just a weird year for him. And a massive bummer. 

Two things can be true at the same time:

2026 has not been his best year or what the Cubs envisioned. It's probably not the worst case scenario (TJS) but it's been probably been the next worse thing. I understand everyone's frustrations with him as much as I understand his attempt to battle through a blister. It's been frustrating. 

The trade was fine value at the time. In fact, based on Caissie's season, it appears fine value today. Neither has been good. 

Hopefully the rest of the year goes better than yesterday and an off-season reset gets him to be more like the 2025 version. Because that was a very good pitcher. 

[Brian707]

How long is Dansby going to be out? 

[Geographyhater8888]

4 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

How long is Dansby going to be out? 

He’s on the 10 day IL with a left oblique injury and getting an MRI today. No one knows yet but it’d be a miracle if he’s out for less than 1 month. 

[Derwood]

Good thing we have top prospect Rojas oh wait

[Jason Ross]

6 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Good thing we have top prospect Rojas oh wait

In their defense, Rojas wasn't MLB ready. He was in Knoxville. He wasn't going to solve this issue.

[Rex Buckingham]

yeah, the lineup moving forward is going to be Nico at SS and Pedro at 2B. Could be worse, but obviously not ideal.  Bigger issue is that now we do not have a reliable infield bench bat, because Shaw keeps jerking off too much or whatever and his wrist can't get healthy

[Neuby]

Rojas would not be getting reps, Hoerner, Ramirez, Shaw , will do fine in Swansons place.

[Rcal10]

26 minutes ago, Neuby said:

Rojas would not be getting reps, Hoerner, Ramirez, Shaw , will do fine in Swansons place.

Yep, once Shaw comes back. But for now either Alcantara comes back up or maybe Murray. Not sure of the plan. The only issue Murray is they would have to make room on the 40 man for him. 

Edited Monday at 03:02 PM by Rcal10

[PeanutPunch33]

3 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

Has he been? don't think many were saying since Day 1 that he was just simply a bad pitcher. Yesterday was not a good start. I will say this about yesterday though; I understand where he came from yesterday. He's missed time and he tried to tough it out. We celebrate that stuff in sports when it goes well. But he also needs to have to have selflessness in that moment. He was wrong, but one I will understand from a competitors' standpoint. 

To your broader point: all year has been a struggle but this idea that you and only you saw through the fools gold ignores context. He was great last year. He was a top prospect as well by every industry ranking. He has gnarly stuff. In fact, he had gnarly stuff yesterday. Let's chill on that. He isn't the first SP to struggle with a new organization. He's had injury and I'm not entirely sure he's taking to the new direction. 

Most of the concerns heading into this year was not surrounding his talent but his ability to stay healthy. And while he has had a few knocks, none of them were the injury concerns people had; specifically that he would blow out his elbow. 

I think most people would have assumed given that his elbow is seemingly healthy and that the stuff is there, his season would have been much better than it's been. It's been a bit of a weird one. ZiPS had Cabrera pinned as a sub 4.00 FIP and a 3.88 ERA. Modeling agreed that the concern was the health and less the dude. It's been just a weird year for him. And a massive bummer. 

Two things can be true at the same time:

2026 has not been his best year or what the Cubs envisioned. It's probably not the worst case scenario (TJS) but it's been probably been the next worse thing. I understand everyone's frustrations with him as much as I understand his attempt to battle through a blister. It's been frustrating. 

The trade was fine value at the time. In fact, based on Caissie's season, it appears fine value today. Neither has been good. 

Hopefully the rest of the year goes better than yesterday and an off-season reset gets him to be more like the 2025 version. Because that was a very good pitcher. 

I'm still going to root for him as a Cubs fan obviously, but I recall being mocked a bit when I was vocal in that being a bad trade.  I was always curious why people ignored his mediocre FIP and his inability to pitch 150+ innings in any one of his professional seasons.  He's neither durable nor above average in the innings that he does pitch.  

They picked him out of all the other pitchers that were traded last off-season - whether that was Harrison, Alcantara, Gray, Peralta.  I think we can objectively say that Cabrera has been the worst of that bunch.  They deserve to be criticized a bit for the move.  I understand the logic of why they made the deal but the results have been brutal.  

Fortunately, like you mentioned, the pieces they gave up in that deal aren't exactly lighting it up.  

[Rex Buckingham]

Before we write off Cabrera for good, let us also consider that Clay Holmes also pitched poorly in his first turn off the injured list. Not that Cabrera has the track record of success that Holmes has, and had obviously pitched far worse this season prior to their respective injuries, but maybe he needs another turn to get right. Maybe give him an extra day of rest if you can to help with the blister issue but get him in there against a Seattle lineup that isn't exactly setting the world on fire (wRC+ of 91 as a team since June 1 against RHP)

[Jason Ross]

15 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

I'm still going to root for him as a Cubs fan obviously, but I recall being mocked a bit when I was vocal in that being a bad trade.  I was always curious why people ignored his mediocre FIP and his inability to pitch 150+ innings in any one of his professional seasons.  He's neither durable nor above average in the innings that he does pitch.  

They picked him out of all the other pitchers that were traded last off-season - whether that was Harrison, Alcantara, Gray, Peralta.  I think we can objectively say that Cabrera has been the worst of that bunch.  They deserve to be criticized a bit for the move.  I understand the logic of why they made the deal but the results have been brutal.  

Fortunately, like you mentioned, the pieces they gave up in that deal aren't exactly lighting it up.  

Saying they "picked him" is not entirely fair. It wasn't a litter of puppies, there are two sides to this story, as well as their shopping needs. Alcantara was not traded we have no idea why he hasn't been other than he still hasn't been. Sonny Gray wasn't a controlled starter; the last thing this team needed was another SP who's hitting FA next year. Same goes for Peralta. Also do we think the Brewers and Cardinals were realistically dealing those guys to the Cubs? Kyle Harrison was a failed prospect up until that point; be real and understand the team wasn't going into the 2026 season banking horsefeathers on him. It's cool for the Brewers (I guess) that he's found himself again, but the Cubs were not in a situation where they could throw-spaghetti at the wall with their rotation. They needed someone who had some MLB success. The Brewers were in a more stable pitching situation and could take that leap. 

They didn't deserve to be criticized for the move. They didn't then; Cabrera was coming off a very successful season, at the age of-27, and was controlled for years. The price was pretty on par with that. There was risk involved, as there is any time, but that was reflected in the price. They don't today; Caissie has been bad, too. We can use hindsight all we want and say "they should have traded for Kyle Harrison" but entering the year he had been objectively bad no one gets the benefit of hindsight here. 

Most of the objections to Cabrera revolved around his injury status. So far, that's been fine (at least on things people we worried about. Hamstring/adducter issues were not in his history; that was an accident). His issue seems to be that he's really struggled getting lefties out this year and staying consistent. 

If you want to find criticisms it may come in how they've worked with him and how he's taken to those changes. I think that's probably a fair critique. However, I don't think a victory lap of "I always knew this dude sucked" really makes much sense in that the quality wasn't really the issue at the time of the trade as much as the other things were.