Cubs look silly after SF Giants torch pitcher they were linked to in offseason

The SF Giants exploded for 18 runs on Friday and they did a lot of damage against Chicago Cubs starter Edward Cabrera who San Francisco was rumored to have interest in during the offseason.

It seems the Giants dodged a bullet on Cabrera as his ERA ballooned to 4.99 on the season after Friday’s start in which he gave up eight earned runs in 3 and 2/3 innings pitched. He has struck out 53 batters and walked 21 while opponents are batting .276 against him which is the worst mark of his career.

Not only that, but the Cubs had to give up quite a bit to acquire him from the Miami Marlins. Chicago parted ways with its top prospect Owen Caissie in the deal as well as Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon. 

Cabrera is a hard-throwing righty who put up good, but not exceptional, numbers in Miami. By giving up that much to get Cabrera the Cubs were hoping they could harness his talent and turn him into an All-Star caliber pitcher. They have to be feeling a little silly based on the early results.

SF Giants' rotation is bad, but it could have been even worse

While San Francisco’s pitching staff has been less than ideal this season, and that’s putting it charitably, at least they didn’t give up any prospects. Yes, Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser have been as bland and ineffective as fans feared but at least the Giants didn’t break the bank or give up prospects for either of them.

It just goes to show how much of a crapshoot it can be when looking to add pitching. The Giants have repeatedly opted for cheap options as Greg Johnson clearly doesn’t want them to spend big on a starter.

That approach hasn’t worked all that well, but imagine how excited many fans would’ve been if the Giants traded for Cabrera and signed Tatsuya Imai in the offseason. Imai has a 5.52 ERA on the year so he and Cabrera wouldn’t be that much better than Mahle and Houser. Plus, the Giants probably would've had to give up Josuar Gonzalez, who may be the top prospect in baseball soon, in order to get Cabrera.

Maybe the Giants should’ve just had a competition amongst their young arms for those final two rotation spots. Watching Trevor McDonald and Carson Whisenhunt pitch would be a lot more fun and the Giants need more homegrown arms if they want to have an above average rotation going forward.

Cabrera’s struggles just go to show how tough it can be to land the right pitcher so the Giants should be thankful a deal didn’t work out. 

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