After one of the most devastating collapses in recent memory, falling from a 5 1/2-game lead in the National League East with the best record in either league on June 12, to 13 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and out of the playoffs altogether on the last day of the season, the New York Mets are looking to do more than simply fine-tune their roster.
But a fine-tuning move is what they reportedly made on Monday, the first full day of baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, when, in their first transaction of the meetings, they agreed to sign a veteran reliever whose career highlight came in 2016 when he was a member of the Chicago Cubs team that won the first World Series for the beloved franchise in 108 years.
Carl Edwards Jr. pitched four years for the Cubs at the outset of his career, from 2015 until the trade deadline in 2019, when the Cubs sent him to the San Diego Padres. In his tenure with the Cubs, the lanky 6-foot-3, 165-pound Edwards threw 174 1/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA and 234 strikeouts against 96 walks.
Most recently, Edwards, now 34 years old, pitched for the Texas Rangers, returning to the team that drafted him in 2011 in the 48th round, a round that no longer exists. Edwards was 19 years old when Texas selected him out of Mid-Carolina High School in Prosperity, South Carolina.
But Edwards spent most of this season at the Triple-A level, getting in only six innings at the big league level.
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SB Nation Mets correspondent Linus Lawrence described Edwards as “a three-pitch pitcher, sporting a four-seam fastball, a 12-6 curveball, and a changeup which he sparingly sprinkles in.”
According to Will Sammon of The Athletic, Edwards’ reported agreement with the Mets includes an invitation to spring training, where he will compete for a spot in a revamped New York bullpen that looks to be anchored by former New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams, who was signed earlier this month to a three-year, $51 million free-agent contract.
If he makes the Mets’ 26-man roster, Edwards Jr. will be pitching for the ninth team in a 12-year career. In that time, the skinny right-hander recorded a respectable 3.56 ERA with 334 strikeouts in 286 innings.
In addition to the Cubs, Padres and Rangers, Edwards Jr. has put in time with the Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves.
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