Why Cubs saw Edward Cabrera as answer in their long quest for starting pitching

New Cubs right-hander Edward Cabrera got a snowy introduction to Chicago. In town this weekend for the Cubs Convention, he wore a short-sleeved knit shirt in front of a circle of cameras and reporters Friday as the wind lifted plumes of powder outside.

Cabrera, who spent the first five seasons of his major-league career with the Marlins in Miami, put on an exaggerated grimace when he was asked what he thought about the weather.

‘‘This is way different,’’ he said with a smile, addressing the media for the first time since his trade last week.

Much of the fanfare leading up to the festivities this weekend centered on the addition of veteran third baseman Alex Bregman — and deservedly so, considering the Cubs committed $175 million to sign him to a five-year deal. He’s a player the Cubs long have been interested in and is expected to have a significant effect on the lineup.

Days before they came to an agreement with Bregman, however, they acquired Cabrera, who is expected to have a major impact on their rotation, an area they’ve been looking to upgrade and deepen for the last year.

‘‘He’s been a guy that has been a favorite of some of our pitching infrastructure guys for a long time,’’ president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Friday. ‘‘Obviously, great stuff. Feels like he’s a guy that could be just kind of scratching the surface of what he can do. He’s a guy where the analytics matched up, the age matched up, the service time matched up and the fact that there’s some guys that had conviction on him for a long time.’’

The Cubs first discussed Cabrera with the Marlins last winter, Hoyer said. Those talks didn’t gain traction, but the teams picked them up again at the trade deadline, when the Cubs were seeking a marquee starter with multiple years of club control.

None of the pitchers of that description were dealt at the deadline. So after a playoff exit in the National League Division Series, the Cubs were looking to address the same need this offseason.

It took a three-player package built around the Cubs’ top prospect, outfielder Owen Caissie, to get the deal done.

‘‘Obviously a guy who is super-talented,’’ pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said of
Cabrera on the phone this week, ‘‘a guy who has battled some injuries and some ups and downs but really had a fantastic season this last year coming into his own.’’

Hottovy got extra insight into that strong season — Cabrera posted a 3.53 ERA while making a career-high 26 starts and trimming his walk rate to a career-best 8.3% — through former Cubs assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos, now the Marlins’ pitching coach.

‘‘One thing that I think they saw last year with him and that we recognize is just trusting that your stuff can play,’’ Hottovy said when asked about Cabrera’s improved walk rate.

Cabrera’s most-used pitch is his changeup, and he had been pairing that with a 97 mph four-seam fastball. Last offseason, however, he said he worked on his sinker, which overtook his four-seamer in usage.

‘‘It helped me a lot,’’ Cabrera said through an interpreter. ‘‘It helped me combine the other pitches that I had and helped me stay in the game more.’’

The way Hottovy described it, of the two fastballs, the sinker was the one Cabrera was more comfortable throwing for strikes. Making it a foundational pitch paid dividends.

Cabrera still spent three weeks on the injured list in September with a sprained right elbow, adding to his long injury history. But he returned to make two starts in the last week of the season.

‘‘Guys throw really hard now; their stuff is amazing,’’ Hoyer said. ‘‘Guys get hurt more often. It’s kind of part of the game. So you always weigh that risk, but you also realize that with increased stuff comes that risk.’’