Chicago Cubs: Counsell offers brutally honest take on Cabrera’s troubles

The Chicago Cubs are at wit’s end when it comes to Edward Cabrera.

On Monday, just a day after coming off the IL and getting shellacked by the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field, the hard-throwing right-hander was put right back on the IL with blister issues.

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While the 15-day shelving of the 28-year-old should give him plenty of time to get healthy and rejoin the team before the end of the regular season, there’s no guarantee anymore that the Cubs’ plans involve him. The power pitcher is now on his third IL stint of the season and is sporting an ugly 5.68 ERA over 15 starts.

In the heat of a pennant race and with the playoffs virtually right around the corner, the team simply doesn’t have the time or the space to figure out Cabrera’s problems and get them sorted out.

Counsell: “I wish every story was a success story.”

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Manager Craig Counsell, speaking to media after the Cubs’ exciting tenth inning walkoff win on Monday, displayed surprising candor when it comes to the whole Cabrera situation.

“It hasn’t clicked,” Counsell told reporters. “You spend a lot of time figuring those out. I wish every story was a success story. This one, right now, is not. We’re certainly going to keep working on trying to find answers there and trying to find solutions.”

Cabrera came to Chicago this past offseason in a trade with the Miami Marlins in exchange for the Cubs’ no. 1 prospect Owen Caissie and two infield prospects. The Cubs had long been enamored by Cabrera’s raw ability and his potential to develop into an ace-level starting pitcher. The feeling was that the native of the Dominican Republic had turned a corner in his development last year and was maybe just a tweak or two away from becoming the consistent front-of-rotation power pitcher the Cubs had needed.

New role for Cabrera?

The recent developments, however, now have the team considering another role for their struggling righty when he’s ready to return. The bullpen may be where Cabrera ends up, at least for the rest of this season.

“Frankly, one thing we’re going to talk about is: Is it happening the longer your outings are? And is that causing this? That may be something we consider for the rest of the year,” Counsell said.

“That’s the working plan right now. We’re hoping we can have the blister behind us. He’s dealt with this and pitched with this (before). One of the things we’re thinking is it doesn’t necessarily pop up in bullpens when the volume is lower, so maybe we can make some progress there, and that can be a fix at least for the last six weeks here.”

Cabrera, meanwhile, is saying all the right things—although he’s also said all the right things before.

“A hundred percent I would go to the bullpen,” Cabrera told reporters via an interpreter. “The important thing is to be here, and to be able to help the team.”

For now, the whole Cabrera experience has been a fail. But there’s no time to worry about that now. The Cubs have playoffs to worry about.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-craig-counsell-edward-cabrera-brutal-honesty-bullpen/