Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said during the Winter Meetings in December that he would “love” to add another starter, with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt likely to be sidelined to begin the 2026 season.
To this end, the Bombers have begun talks to possibly acquire the Dominican Edward Cabreraaccording to a report from The Athletic portal. The Bronx team has also continued its negotiations to obtain the services of the Brewers’ ace from Los Angeles, Freddy Peraltaaccording to the report.
New York was initially linked to Peralta during the Winter Meetings, along with other clubs.
Although hiring one of the best starters available on the free market would require a large financial investment by the Yankees, that would not be the case to complete a trade for Cabrera or Peralta.
Cabrera is in his first year of salary arbitration after earning $1.95 million in 2025. He is under contractual control for another three seasons. For his part, Peralta will earn $8 million in the final year of his contract, with free agency on his horizon.
Injuries and walks have been a problem for Cabrera, but his talent is hard to ignore. The 27-year-old right-hander broke into 2025, posting a 3.53 ERA and hitting career highs in innings (137.2) and strikeouts (150), also improving his BB/9 from 5.1 in 2021-2024 to 3.1 last year.
Peralta is an already established quality arm, reaching 200 strikeouts in each of his last three seasons, resulting in a 3.40 earned run average during that period. The 29-year-old right-hander had the best ERA of his career (2.70) in 2025.
