SF Giants reportedly checked in on flamethrower Marlins starter at Winter Meetings

The SF Giants did not do much at MLB's Winter Meetings earlier this week. However, they appear to have been active behind the scenes as they reportedly were trying to swing a trade for right-handed starter Edward Cabrera of the Miami Marlins.

Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reported this in his latest article, writing: "The Giants were among the teams to engage the Miami Marlins on Edward Cabrera, a right-handed starter with three years of club control who is expected to be moved this winter. But the asking price was prohibitively high, according to league sources."

SF Giants reportedly looked into trade for Marlins flamethrower

The way Baggarly described the talks suggests that the Marlins may have been demanding San Francisco's top prospect Bryce Eldridge in a deal which would be a lot to give up for a pitcher like Cabrera.

The 27-year-old is coming off a season in which he had a 8-7 record with a 3.53 ERA in 26 starts and 137 and 2/3 innings pitched. His strikeout rate is impressive as he struck out 150 batters last season but he also had some elbow issues and has only exceeded 100 innings pitched once in his career and that was in 2025.

He has a lot of upside and features a high-velocity fastball that can touch 100 miles per hour and even his changeup registers in the mid-90's so the guy brings heat to the mound.

In some ways he seems a little reminiscent of Jordan Hicks in that they are both high-velocity pitchers but the question is whether they could consistently make it through a full season as an effective starter.

We will see if those Cabrera talks bear any fruit for the Giants, but they will likely need Miami's asking price to go down before they make a deal.

Still, the trade route may represent the best path for the Giants to add a big arm to the rotation. We know that it seems unlikely they would be willing to spend what it will take for one of the premier arms on the market, so president of baseball operations Buster Posey may be forced to make a trade to add to the rotation.

They have been connected to other names in potential trades like Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta so maybe the team will end up making a big trade rather than a big free agent splash this offseason.