Marlins should be willing to trade Edward Cabrera if this big bat is available

[Sean McCormack]

Rumors surrounded Edward Cabrera leading up to the 2025 MLB trade deadline. After finishing his career year in good health, there are sure to be many suitors trying to acquire him from the Miami Marlins again this offseason.

Cabrera posted a 3.53 ERA and 3.83 FIP with a career-high 137 ⅔ innings and surprisingly consistent strike-throwing. His fastball velocity sits at 97 mph and his curveball has joined his changeup as a reliable putaway pitch. He's still under club control for three more seasons via arbitration.

While the iron is hot and they're focused on making offensive upgrades, the Marlins may part with their homegrown starter. In this mock trade proposal, the Athletics—whose window of contention is similar to Miami's—look to nab Cabrera in exchange for one of their own breakout players.

 

Marlins acquire: 1B/OF Tyler Soderstrom and OF Henry Bolte

Athletics acquire: RHP Edward Cabrera and RHP Calvin Faucher

Tyler Soderstrom in 2025 posted a .276/.346/.474 slash line and 25 home runs with a .354 wOBA and 125 wRC+, finishing the year with 3.4 fWAR. A left-handed hitter, he held his own against fellow lefties (103 wRC+), allowing him to accrue 624 plate appearances.

Soderstrom began this season at first base, but moved to left field once Nick Kurtz arrived in the big leagues. Although he performed well with the glove at his new position, many still believe his defensive home moving forward should be first base or DH. That's how the Marlins would utilize him in this scenario.

With only two years of MLB service time, Soderstrom is not even eligible for arbitration yet and he won't hit free agency until after the 2029 season. An affordable power bat who can anchor the Marlins lineup with loud pop, he'd fit in perfectly.

Henry Bolte is the fifth-ranked prospect in the Athletics farm system, according to MLB Pipeline. The 2022 second-round draft pick was signed out of high school for an overslot deal of $2 million. In 2025 at Double-A and Triple-A, Bolte slashed .284/.385/.427 with a .377 wOBA and 121 wRC+. He flashes encouraging hard-hit rates and a max exit velo of 111.6 mph.

Bolte plays a good outfield, but may be relegated to a corner spot long term. Speed may be his best tool with a 99th-percentile Sprint Speed in AAA. The 22-year-old shows promise and could be valuable depth for the Marlins ever-crowded outfield.

Under the hood, there are areas of concern that may lead to the A's being willing to move Bolte. He has struck out in nearly one-third of his plate appearances throughout his minor league career. In AAA, he was particularly vulnerable against offspeed and breaking pitches (35 whiff% or higher vs. curveballs, sweepers, sliders, and changeups). The Marlins player development group may be able to fix his plate approach. Also, Bolte had a shockingly low pulled-air rate—remove him from the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League and his actual slugging percentage of .433 may settle in much closer to his .295 xSLG.

Bolte is not Rule 5-eligible until 2026, which would allow the Marlins to keep him off their 40-man roster next season until he's fully ready to contribute.

In addition to Cabrera, the A's also get a high-leverage reliever in Faucher who has posted respectable numbers for the Fish the past two seasons. He is under club control through 2029.

By including Faucher in this trade, I am assuming the Marlins will make a separate offseason move to reinforce their bullpen, ideally bringing in somebody who misses even more bats.

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[NewMarlinsFan]

Soderstrom would be an outstanding acquisition.  

 

[One Regend]

Interesting take. I like the idea of Tyler Sodorstrom. He's a young player who just had a breakout season and may have potential for even bigger seasons ahead, and we'd have control over him through 2029. The question is, when our contending window is open, how much of his services do we have left? Is he an extension candidate for that purpose?

Henry Bolte has potential, but I looked at all of his seasons (not just his 2025) and his alarming strikeout rate persists throughout all of them since he made his professional debut. That's not something an organization can fix; at least not without sacrificing something. Like, for instance, Bolte striking out less and making more ugly contact isn't any better than what he's currently doing right now. Your best bet is to hope he turns into a Joey Gallo type of player.

Another question is... is what we are giving up enough? I feel like we are lowballing the Athletics here. Sure, Edward Cabrera was good this year, but he's never been consistent at throwing strikes in his career and you can't just rely on him having yet another career-high strike-throwing rate. And he doesn't have the track record of durability other more coveted starters might have. And Calvin Faucher is neither missing bats enough nor limiting solid contact. If we're trading Cabrera we're doing so to sell high. I don't think Faucher would be enough. We'd need to add a throw-in prospect.

[Hans Herrera]

12 hours ago, One Regend said:

Interesting take. I like the idea of Tyler Sodorstrom. He's a young player who just had a breakout season and may have potential for even bigger seasons ahead, and we'd have control over him through 2029. The question is, when our contending window is open, how much of his services do we have left? Is he an extension candidate for that purpose?

Henry Bolte has potential, but I looked at all of his seasons (not just his 2025) and his alarming strikeout rate persists throughout all of them since he made his professional debut. That's not something an organization can fix; at least not without sacrificing something. Like, for instance, Bolte striking out less and making more ugly contact isn't any better than what he's currently doing right now. Your best bet is to hope he turns into a Joey Gallo type of player.

Another question is... is what we are giving up enough? I feel like we are lowballing the Athletics here. Sure, Edward Cabrera was good this year, but he's never been consistent at throwing strikes in his career and you can't just rely on him having yet another career-high strike-throwing rate. And he doesn't have the track record of durability other more coveted starters might have. And Calvin Faucher is neither missing bats enough nor limiting solid contact. If we're trading Cabrera we're doing so to sell high. I don't think Faucher would be enough. We'd need to add a throw-in prospect.

Even though I’m a big fan of Eddy, I like the trade. That also means the A’s will say no, but probably because of the other pieces in the proposed deal.

Still, Cabrera for Sodestrom it’s very interesting.