Edward Cabrera has never looked further from being a potential Cubs bullpen answer

As the Chicago Cubs desperately look to get their bullpen dialed back in for the home stretch, there's been this far-off promise in the distance: reinforcements in the form of several injured key arms. That group, at one point, included Ben Brown, but has since been reduced to Justin Steele, Shelby Miller and Edward Cabrera.

There's still hope that Steele and Miller make it back by the end of September. This weekend, with Miller expected to pitch on back-to-back days for the first time, will be critical. Steele just saw his first game action in nearly 18 months in a rehab start with Triple-A Iowa, and you can be sure the Cubs aren't going to rush their left-hander back before he's ready.

Cabrera always seemed like the likeliest of the group to return to the big-league team and throw meaningful frames, but his latest rehab appearance with Triple-A Iowa hardly made it seem like he's ready to do so.

Cabrera needed more than 30 pitches to record just two outs, surrendering four earned runs on three hits and a pair of walks. He gave up a homer in his prior rehab outing, so he's yet to turn in a clean appearance with Iowa. Given his extremely inconsistent results with Chicago, both in terms of results and health, it's hard to view him as a potential late-season X-factor for the team's bullpen.

Edward Cabrera is among the Cubs' biggest disappointments this year

When the Cubs traded top-100 prospect Owen Caissie to Miami last winter, they believed they were getting a potential front-of-the-rotation pitcher in return. Instead, Cabrera has been anything but, taking a major step backwards from his 2025 performance with the Marlins, posting a 5.68 ERA and a career-worst strikeout rate.

Maybe Cabrera can defy the odds and make an impact for the Cubs down the stretch, but the bigger hope has to be that the team can figure out why his stuff has regressed so dramatically in hopes he can be an anchor in what will be a new-look starting rotation next season.

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