Cabrera's a Cub đ. Plus: I made a mistake and I'm sorry!
Welcome to The Windup, The Athletic's MLB newsletter.
The Windup Newsletter ⟠| This is The Athleticâs MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.
The Edward Cabrera is a Cub. What should Chicagoâs next move be? Plus: The Aâs are having a rough time claiming their new name, and I get to tell you about a mistake I made! Iâm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal â welcome to The Windup!
Big Swing: Cubs land Edward Cabrera from Marlins
The Cubsâ latest acquisition is now Edward Cabrera, after sending Owen Caissie and two minor-league infielders to the Marlins to strike the deal.
Recent reports said the Yankees were in talks about the starter. One problem: The Yankees didnât have an Owen Caissie available. Caissie was Chicagoâs No. 1 prospect, per MLB.com. (Keith Law had the outfielder at No. 5 last February.) He only hit .192 in 26 big-league at-bats, but he also carried a .937 OPS in 99 Triple-A games.
So why would the Cubs deal Caissie for a guy who, prior to 2025, was 17-22 with a 4.32 ERA â and had never surpassed 100 innings in a season? (Cabrera had a 3.53 ERA in 26 starts in 2025.)
Well, the cost of free-agent pitching has been pretty high. As Andy McCullough noted in our Trade Grades article: Adrian Houser costs $22 million (Cabrera is projected to make around $3.7 million in arbitration).
Stack him with Cade Horton (NL Rookie of the Year runner-up), Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea and (when he returns from UCL surgery) Justin Steele, and thatâs quite a rotation. Chicago has also added five big-league relievers this winter.
So about that lineup ⊠With more on that, hereâs Ken:
Kenâs Notebook: Cubs have room to go bigger, and they should
From my latest column:
Iâm quite certain Cubs owner Tom Ricketts doesnât want to hear any more talk about how he should splurge in free agency.
But after trading Caissie to the Marlins on Wednesday, the Cubs should splurge in free agency.
To varying degrees, any of the remaining Big Four hitters â Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman and Bo Bichette â would make sense.
If recent history is any indication, the Cubs arenât a good bet to outbid the other large-market teams linked to one or more of those players â which are the Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Dodgers. But when the game of free-agent musical chairs ends â and it will, well before the first beer is sold at Wrigley Field â the Cubs will have no excuse to be caught empty-handed.
In a sport that conducts free agency without a deadline, teams love to play the, âletâs see if his price dropsâ game with elite talents, angling for shorter commitments even if they require the inclusion of opt-outs. Bellinger, lacking better options, accepted that kind of deal from the Cubs in 2024.
This time, the Cubs cannot get cute. Their competitors in free agency all can offer better offensive environments than Wrigley Field. And any player who negotiates an opt-out will want to give himself the best chance to succeed right away.
The Cubs didnât mess around in Dec. 2022 when they signed shortstop Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177 million free-agent contract. Swanson, in his first three seasons, was more than worth the money, providing $99 million in value, according to Fangraphsâ dollars metric, which is WAR converted to a dollar scale based on what a player would earn in free agency. And guess what? The Cubs, judging from their balance sheet, are in better position to go big now than they were then.
Even after adding Cabrera, their projected luxury-tax payroll is nearly $32 million under the threshold. Their future commitments â $39 million in 2027, $30 million in â28 and $26 million in â29 â are in the same range as the Guardians, who are not exactly known for spending.
A right-handed hitter is the more immediate need for the Cubs, making Bregman or Bichette a better short-term fit. But Caissie projected to contribute in 2026 and become a full-time outfielder in 2027 if Ian Happ and/or Seiya Suzuki left in free agency. So long-term, an opening will likely exist for the left-handed Tucker or Bellinger, just as it did for the left-handed Caissie â and might for another talented Cubs outfield prospect, the right-handed Kevin AlcĂĄntara.
For the full column, click here.
Apologies: A correction, and a goodwill tour
OK, Iâll just acknowledge it: I made a blunder in the last Windup! If youâd asked me where Jung Hoo Lee was from, I would have said Korea, obviously â itâs not hard for me to differentiate between Korean and Japanese names. But as I was going through Baseball Reference to make sure I hadnât missed any recent signings of Japanese players, there was Lee, plain as day: born in Japan.
The explanation: His dad played in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons from 1998-2001 ⊠Lee was born in 1998.
I should have trusted my gut! Or just scrolled down to see Leeâs (KBO) stats. Itâs the extra step I do 9,999 times out of 10,000, and ⊠this is why.
Anyway, what perfect timing for a story about Lee, who is currently on a goodwill tour, showing 16 other members of the Giants organization the best Seoul has to offer. Itâs not the norm for teams to do tours like this, but with the Dodgers firmly in the top standing as Japanâs favorite MLB team, the Giants see Korea as a big potential market, since they employ one of the countryâs biggest stars.
Apologies again for the mistake; I plan to make it a perfect 10,000 for the next 10,000 when it comes to trusting my gut and taking that extra time to get it right.
Denied: âLas Vegas Athleticsâ is a free-use term (for now)
After such a smooth and definitely-not-embarrassingly-craven transition for Aâs owner John Fisher from Oakland to Las Vegas (by way of Sacramento), it is a real shock to report: The team has hit a bump in the road and hasnât been able to trademark its new name.
Itâs now been twice denied trademarks to âLas Vegas Athleticsâ and âVegas Athletics.â Hereâs a snippet from our story:
ââATHLETICS means activities such as sports, exercises and games that require physical skill and stamina ⊠therefore the prior registration does not support applicantâs claim of acquired distinctiveness and the claim is not accepted,ââ the court document reads.
âThe USPTO argues âathleticsâ is an overarching term that is too broad to be trademarked. In trademark law, a description of what service the team provides and its geographic location is not sufficient. While the name refers to a professional team in Las Vegas, the USPTO argues there are too many other possible uses. In theory, others may need to use âLas Vegasâ and athletics to describe their business.â
Is this a case of someone being way too literal with the rulebook? Absolutely. But itâs also technically correct (the best kind of correct).
I donât think this will be the final answer. Still, the ruling means that if you want to get a head start on selling âLas Vegas Athleticsâ gear, you could technically (legally) do that.
Oh wait, The Last Dive Bar is wayyyy ahead of me.
But hey, since the team refused to be called the Sacramento Athletics (itâs officially currently just âThe Athletics,â which is awfully dang close to violating a different trademark), maybe it can just stick with that. Iâm sure their new host city (and my employers) would be thrilled about that outcome.
Handshakes and High Fives
Andy McCullough on how the U.S. overthrow of the Venezuelan government is impacting Venezuelan players and coaches. So far, itâs a âtenuous status quo.â Meanwhile, Denny Alfonso spoke to a Venezuelan Giants prospect about his experience.
Main Street Sports Group/the FanDuel Network may have rebranded from Diamond Sports/Bally Sports, but itâs kinda just more of the same.
The Mets could certainly use Kyle Tucker, though it seems they (and the Dodgers) may want him on a shorter deal. Signing him would certainly knock them off the top spot in Jim Bowdenâs list of five teams who have moved backwards this offseason.
How will the Angels spend the money they saved by restructuring Anthony Rendonâs contract? Well, they might just ⊠not.
The Yankees and Cody Bellinger are (so far) at a stalemate in free-agent negotiations. Brendan Kuty examines each sideâs argument.
Clayton Kershawâs next gig: The Tony Romo of baseball?
On the pods: Rates and Barrels (obviously) love stats. But in its most recent episode, it asks: âWhat are we missing?â
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Jayson Starkâs wildest hitting and pitching feats of 2025.
đ« Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic****âs other newsletters.