Edward

Cabrera

Cabrera gave up a couple of homers in Coors, but both were solo shots. He struck out five and walked two. Cabrera’s velocity was again very good; he averaged 96.9 mph with his fastball today, just down from 97.3 mph last Friday in his return from the injured list. In 10 starts before missing time with a blister, Cabrera averaged 95.7 mph, and the only time he was over 96.0 mph previously was when he came in at 96.5 mph in his season debut. Obviously, he’ll be a better bet if the velocity sticks around, though he should be fine either way next week, as he’ll be facing the Rockies outside of Colorado.

Yikes. Cabrera’s velocity was well up from where it was all season and he managed a 31 percent whiff rate, but he allowed eight hard-hit balls, including four off his difference-making change-up. His ERA is now 4.99. Cabrera doesn’t exactly look trustworthy for the moment, and either way you probably have some pause about risking Coors Field with him next week, but nothing under the hood looks dramatically rough.

He’ll get the ball today against the Giants in Wrigley Field matinee. Cabrera had struggled before heading on IL with his blister injury, allowing three or more earned runs in each of his final four starts before his abbreviated exit from May 20’s game against the Brewers with the blister. Still, he’s talented enough to be a worthwhile roll today against the Giants.

Cabrera resumed throwing last week and will get the ball this weekend against San Francisco after missing just over two weeks with a blister issue. The 28-year-old has struggled to a pedestrian 4.00 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 47/20 K/BB ratio across 54 innings over 10 starts to kick off his Cubs debut. He’s immensely talented and is at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats based on his sky-high upside if everything clicks into place.

Cabrera began throwing plyometric balls earlier this week as he works his way back from a blister on his right middle finger that put him on the injured list back on May 24. The 28-year-old figures to be ready to rejoin Chicago’s rotation mix in early June.

Cabrera was pulled from Wednesday’s start due to the blister issue. The Cubs gave him a few days to see if it would improve before his next start, but he’ll wind up being shelved for a couple of weeks instead. Jordan Wicks was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his place on the club’s active roster.

Cabrera drew a visit from Chicago’s training staff, and immediately left the contest, after throwing just one pitch at the outset of the fourth inning. The 28-year-old was charged with four runs (one earned) with two strikeouts and two walks over three innings of work. There should be an update on his status after the contest. He’s tentatively scheduled to start against the Pirates on Tuesday, but that’s obviously in jeopardy now.

After retiring the White Sox in order in the first inning, Cabrera would be touched up for a 403-foot solo homer by Colson Montgomery in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1. He would bounce back to allow only one base runner over the next two innings, but in the fifth inning, Cabrera would walk the first two batters he faced, with both eventually coming around to score to cut the Cubs’ lead to 4-3. Cabrera would not escape the inning, as he was pulled following a two-out walk to Sam Antonacci to give him his shortest outing of the season. Cabrera has now allowed three earned runs or more in each of his last seven starts, and has slowly seen his ERA balloon to 4.06 after finishing April with a 3.06 ERA.

This line is a weird one. Cabrera allowed five runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs. That’s all very much earned. However, he also struck out six and walked just one. He also had 13 whiffs, a 15 percent swinging strike rate, a 30 percent CSW, and threw 66 percent of his pitches for strikes. So, Cabrera threw tons of strikes, missed plenty of bats, put away hitters when he got into two-strike counts, but also seemed to give up hard contact whenever he did give up contact. One other thing to note here is that Cabrera’s sinker was 97 mph in the first inning and then down to 94.3 mph by the fifth inning. That’s a bit of a larger drop-off than we’re used to seeing. We’d still start him next week against the White Sox.

Cabrera gave up nine hits, walked two and struck out eight. He remains 3-0 on the season with the no-decision. The 28-year-old right-hander finished strong by striking out Ke’Bryan Hayes to end the sixth inning. He has a 3.27 ERA on the year. Cabrera is lined up to face the Rangers on the road this weekend.