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If the Chicago Cubs have their druthers at the 2025 MLB trade deadline, they'll reel in Marlins righthander Edward Cabrera to join the front end of their starting rotation. Cabrera has lowered his arm slot, gaining both more electricity in an already nasty arsenal and better command thereof. He's under team control for three years beyond 2025. The Cubs have scouted him closely and believe his stuff would play even better in front of their strong defensive group.
Right now, though, Miami is holding out for both Owen Caissie and Jaxon Wiggins as the centerpieces of a deal for Cabrera, sources say, and the Cubs are unwilling to meet that asking price. Caissie is the team's top outfield prospect, and Wiggins is their best minor-league starter. Giving up both would leave a huge hole in the team's farm system, and the two teams are in a staring contest, each hoping the other blinks first.
Since there's no guarantee that Cabrera's price tag will come down, the Chicago front office has also remained engaged with several other teams about controllable pitchers who would deliver huge impact down the stretch but can also be retained for another two or more seasons. Sources with knowledge of the discussions confirmed the team has talked to the Nationals about MacKenzie Gore, their southpaw ace, who is under one fewer year of team control than Cabrera—he can be a free agent after 2027—but has been more durable and consistently able to fill up the zone. The price tag on Gore is similar to that of Cabrera, though, and of the two, Miami is seen as the more likely trade partner. Nationals interim baseball chief Mike DeBartolo won't trade Gore unless he gets a deal he can't refuse.
The Cubs have also stayed in touch with the Pirates, with whom they came close to striking a deal to acquire Mitch Keller earlier this summer. Keller is under team control, too, but his ceiling is lower than those of Gore or Cabrera and the contract extension he signed in March 2024 is more expensive than their remaining team control. As a result, a deal for Keller would likely include Caissie, but exclude Wiggins, which is the Cubs' preferred outcome. They're cultivating that as an alternative, but it's very much a fallback. The goal is to draw down the asking price on Cabrera.
Meanwhile, the Twins' asking price on Joe Ryan is even higher than that for Cabrera or Gore, which (while not unfair, given Ryan's remaining control and his skill set) makes him off-limits for the Cubs. On the other hand, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax are relief aces under team control through 2027, and the price tags on each would be lower because of the difference of their roles and the utility thereof. The Cubs have discussed both with Minnesota, but they prefer Duran.
In Caissie, Kevin Alcántara and Moisés Ballesteros, the Cubs have three strong prospects with ample experience at Triple-A Iowa, knocking loudly on the door to the majors. They don't have an ideal opening for any of the three, and they realize that the best utilization of the group lies in trading at least one to bolster this year's team as it pursues a division title, sources say. However, they're unwilling to trade any of the three for rental players. Thus, the hunt is on for a player who delivers value for the 2026 and 2027 versions of the team, and the front office is working hard to land someone who fits those criteria.
There are a few wild cards in that picture, from the obvious (Sandy Alcantara, whose numbers still don't look good but whose stuff still impresses—and who would certainly not cost both Caissie and Wiggins) to the obscure (Jose Soriano, the Angels groundballer on whom the Cubs made calls earlier this year). The team is also ready, if needed, to pivot into a mode where they keep their top set of prospects and acquire a stack of rentals, instead. The problem there is that, with a thin farm system, they're actually better-positioned to acquire high-end players with control than to snag someone like Merrill Kelly. The second tier of Chicago prospects isn't as good as the parallel tiers for some of the other teams who will be talking to the Diamondbacks about Kelly.
Finally, don't discount the possibility of the Cubs including an incumbent pitcher in a trade for one of these controllable arms. Specifically, one source suggested that Javier Assad might be bundled in with Caissie and more prospect capital to land Cabrera. Ben Brown is also available, if a team likes the idea of either helping him round out his arsenal to start or converting him to the bullpen. The team could even deal a pitcher in a separate deal, to recuperate prospect depth and create space, depending on their ability to land one of the big arms in their sights.
These are the big fish the team is angling for, with the deadline just three and a half days away. Whether they can actually get any of them into the boat is, of course, the big question. It could come down to whether or not Hoyer is willing to make a rare exception and go beyond his comfort zone, in terms of value.
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