MIAMI -- After months of rumors, the Marlins traded right-hander Edward Cabrera to the Cubs for three prospects, including Owen Caissie (MLB Pipeline’s No. 47 overall).
What does Cabrera’s departure mean for the Marlins this season and in the future?
“I think we have more than five guys that I think can be really helpful contributors to our 2026 Major League pitching staff, as well as beyond,” Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said Thursday on a Zoom with reporters.
Barring additional moves, the Marlins’ starting-pitching options on the 40-man roster include:
RHP Sandy Alcantara
RHP Eury Pérez
LHP Ryan Weathers
RHP Max Meyer
RHP Janson Junk
LHP Braxton Garrett
RHP Ryan Gusto
RHP Adam Mazur
LHP Dax Fulton (Marlins’ No. 15 prospect)
All of these pitchers are under club control for multiple years (Alcantara has a $21 million team option or $2 million buyout for 2027).
By moving Cabrera, the Marlins must have felt confident enough in their pitching depth to subtract from it and bolster other areas. There’s also plenty of time for Miami to add a veteran free agent -- say a Martín Pérez type -- on a one-year deal before Spring Training to “replace” Cabrera.
“I think we showed last year across the organization, we did a really nice job of helping our pitchers get better,” Bendix said. “Pitchers at the Major League level, pitchers at the Minor League level, really squeezing the most out of them. And I think there's more to gain there as well.
“I think we saw with guys like Janson Junk, an NRI a year ago who contributed a huge amount of value to last year's team; with guys like Eury Pérez, who is just absolutely scratching the surface of what he can do; and, of course, Sandy, who we saw the real version of Sandy the last couple of months, and I think that's the version of Sandy we're going to see moving forward.”
Alcantara, Pérez and Weathers would be locks for rotation spots. Bendix said Weathers, Meyer (left hip) and Garrett (Tommy John) are expected to be “full strength, ready to go” in Spring Training. Junk is better suited in a swingman role (4.53 starter ERA vs. 2.78 reliever ERA), but if Meyer and Garrett aren’t ready to round out the starting staff, Junk can do so.
“I definitely don't have a feel of who the starting five are going to be to open up the season,” Bendix said. “I think there's opportunity there, there's a competition there, there's open space there, there's a chance for a whole bunch of guys to step up and earn a spot, and there's nothing that we're writing off at this point.”
Gusto, whom Miami acquired in the Jesús Sánchez trade, made three starts for the club before being sidelined with a right shoulder impingement. Mazur, a prospect in 2025, posted a 4.80 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP in six starts. Fulton, who compiled a 5.38 ERA between the Double-A and Triple-A levels in his return from a second Tommy John procedure, is behind in his development compared to the following wild card in the mix …
Southpaw Robby Snelling (Marlins’ No. 4 prospect, MLB Pipeline’s No. 51 overall) is not on the 40-man roster, but he is the organization’s reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year and on the doorstep to the Majors.
“We feel really good about the starting-pitching depth that we have throughout the system,” Bendix said. “Can never have too much pitching, of course. But I think we've done a really nice job of developing our internal pitching options to the point where we have a lot of guys that we feel can step into that spot and help our Major League team.”
By dealing Cabrera now, the Marlins did so when they deemed his value to be highest. Because he is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and under club control through the 2028 season, opposing clubs saw him as an affordable option compared to starting pitchers on the free-agent market. Both Miami and its possible trade partners knew of the injury concerns surrounding Cabrera and his relatively small sample size for success. Still, his frontline stuff was enticing enough to buy into.
During the Winter Meetings, Bendix was confident in his club’s ability to compete for a postseason spot in 2026. The Cabrera trade doesn’t change that belief.
Caissie could win the right-field job this spring, joining All-Star and Gold Glove finalist Kyle Stowers in left and Jakob Marsee in center. All three are left-handed bats with upside.
The 23-year-old Caissie, who got a cup of coffee in the Majors this past season but dealt with a lingering concussion down the stretch, was back to doing full workouts by the end of the Cubs’ postseason run.
The 2025 Marlins finished with 154 homers, fourth fewest in the Majors. Just four players recorded double-digit homers: Stowers (25), Agustín Ramírez (21), Otto Lopez (15) and Heriberto Hernández (10). Caissie, with a career .871 OPS and 81 homers in 505 Minor League games, provides added pop to the roster.
While Caissie should impact the Major League club soon, middle infielder Cristian Hernandez and corner infielder/outfielder Edgardo De Leon fit more into Bendix’s long-term plan of sustainable success. Hernandez hasn’t played above the High-A level, though he could start at Double-A Pensacola in 2026. De Leon nearly replicated his Dominican Summer League numbers of 2024 (.864 OPS) at the Arizona Complex League in 2025 (.853 OPS).
“I feel really good about what we're building here,” Bendix said. “I think that we're executing on our plan of building a club that we think can be really exciting in 2026 and also continuing on this plan to make our franchise competitive every single year for the foreseeable future.”