Chicago Cubs exec gets brutally honest about two Cubs pitchers

The Chicago Cubs have walked into the offseason with a bundle of question marks, especially when it comes to their starting pitching.

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First and maybe foremost, their entire end-of-season starting rotation—Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, David Peterson—may be gone via free agency. Justin Steele will be returning, but he hasn’t pitched in almost two full seasons following elbow surgery. Cade Horton had Tommy John surgery in April and may not be back until late in the coming season. Ben Brown, meanwhile, just had neck surgery and he’s penciled in for a comeback around mid-season.

The front office has already declared pitching to be their primary focus this offseason, but the Cubs are going to need some heavy lifting from pitchers already on the roster for the 2027 season to be a success.

Cubs General Manager Carter Hawkins recently talked about two of those pitchers in a surprisingly blunt way—Edward Cabrera and Javier Assad.

Cabrera has to step up

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Cabrera, who came over from the Miami Marlins last offseason in a trade that cost the team its No. 1 prospect Owen Caissie, had a disastrous debut season in Chicago. Not only did he lose large chunks of the year to a hamstring injury and blister issues, but he pitched poorly when he was healthy enough to take the mound.

On the season, he was 5-5 with a 5.96 ERA over 18 games and 80 innings pitched.

There was frustration all around when it came to the hard-throwing righty, but 2027 has the feel of a “must perform” season for Cabrera. Actually, Hawkins just pretty much said as much.

“I’m glad he knows we have his back. We do have his back,” Hawkins told media at the GM meetings in Las Vegas. “We also got to get some talent out of him. Got to get some outs out of him.

“So our focus is going to be more on figuring out how to get outs with him, and then you know, whether he’s happy or not”

Cabrera is due to become a free agent after the 2028 season and the Cubs already lost a full season of productivity from him in 2026, so Hawkins is essentially saying that it’s time for the 28-year-old to step up.

Assad has been “jerked around”

Assad, on the other hand, is almost an entirely different case than Cabrera.

The 29-year-old righty has performed well when allowed to do his thing at the major league level and has proven himself to be a tenacious competitor. The Cubs, however, have taken advantage of his minor league options and, for the last couple of season, have strategically moved him up and down from the minors to the majors due to roster considerations.

Assad posted a 3.63 ERA last season over 94.1 innings and 28 games—11 of them starts. Overall as a Cub, he has a 3.47 ERA over parts of five seasons.

Hawkins seems to understand the tough situation created by the team’s decisions regarding Assad.

“The amount of innings relative to just how much the fan base really embraced Javy was really interesting,” he told reporters. “You just don’t see guys that throw that little be loved that much, which is a testament to him and his attitude. We jerked him around a decent amount last year, and he didn’t like us that much. But he loved his teammates, and he loved helping the Cubs win.”

Unfortunately for Assad, 2027 looks to hold much of the same treatment as he still has minor league options on a roster where not many pitchers do.

Hawkins’ recent comments make it clear that Cabrera needs to get his act together and Assad will have to look beyond being “jerked around” in getting his own work done.

Whatever the case, Cabrera and Assad will definitely be key components during a 2027 where pitching will make or break the team.

The post Chicago Cubs exec gets brutally honest about two Cubs pitchers appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-edward-cabrera-javier-assad-2027-role-carter-hawkins/