Edward Cabrera Traded to Cubs for MLB #49 Prospect

Photo by Tomas Diniz Santos/Getty Images

January 7, 2026

The Chicago Cubs have swung a trade to bring Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins to the Windy City, first reported by Michael Cerami. In exchange, the Marlins will receive outfield prospect Owen Caissie, the #49 prospect in baseball. Additionally, the Marlins will receive Cubs #11 prospect Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon.

Edward Cabrera

Cabrera, an international signee out of the Dominican Republic in 2015, made his major league debut in 2021. The potential has been there from the start. However, it hadn’t translated into something until this year.

After dealing with injuries and command issues up until 2024, Cabrera finally put the puzzle together. Cabrera put together a 3.53 ERA and a 1.228 WHIP, which are his best marks since his abbreviated 2022 campaign. He also put up career-high’s in several stats, such as innings pitched, starts and strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Cabrera, instead of trying to improve his fastball, decided to simply not throw it as much. He is much more dominant with his non-fastball pitches, in particular his changeup and curveball.

Cabrera was the only pitcher in the majors to have two pitches with over a 40% whiff rate this season, minimum of 150 swings on each pitch. The fastball was his least-used pitch. He relied mainly on his mid-90’s changeup and curveball, while throwing a slider and sinker. Cabrera’s fastball usage rate dropped from 27.2% in 2024 to just 12.9% this past year.

Owen Caissie

Caissie was the 45th draft pick in the 2020 draft by the San Diego Padres. However, he was traded to the Cubs before ever playing a game in the system in exchange for Yu Darvish. Starting off as the 12th ranked Cubs prospect in 2021, Caissie has climbed to the top, and was ranked as the Cubs best prospect before this trade.

Caissie made his major league debut in 2025, and played 27 games last season. Despite a less than stellar big-league performance, his minor league track record stands by itself. According to Prospect Savant, Caissie ranked 90th percentile or higher in average and max exit velocity, barrel percentage and hard-hit percentage in the minors last season.

Cristian Hernandez

One of the top prospects in the 2020-2021 international market, Hernandez signed for $3 million out of the Dominican Republic as an 18-year-old. Although he hasn’t exceeded A+ ball in five seasons, he shows some good tools in his hitting, most notably his bat speed. Hernandez is also a demon on the basepaths, going 52-for-61 on stolen base attempts last year in South Bend. Hernandez projects as an above-average fielder at shortstop, and can also play second base if need be.

Edgardo De Leon

De Leon, yet another Dominican Republic product, signed with the Cubs in January of 2024. He hit .277/.431/.433 in 48 games in the Dominican Summer League, before playing in the Arizona Complex League in 2025.

De Leon kept it up, boasting a .276/.353/.500 slash line in 43 games, and grading in the 90th percentile in average and max exit velocity.

Looking Ahead

Cabrera holds team control, as he is arbitration-eligible through 2028, and projects to earn $3.7 million in 2026. Cabrera looks to inject some strikeout potential onto a pitching staff that ranked 27th in strikeouts per nine innings.

Caissie is one of the more ready-made prospects in baseball right now, and projects to be in the majors come Opening Day. The Marlins also received a couple of longer-term projects that could pay huge dividends.