Padres Designate Veteran Right-Hander for Assignment

Maren Angus-Coombs | Aug 14, 2024

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Monday was an exciting day for San Diego Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove and a disappointing one for right-handed reliever Carl Edwards Jr.

Musgrove was activated from the 60-day injured list to make Monday’s start. Edwards was designated for assignment to make room for the starter on both the active and the 40-man rosters.

Edwards was just selected onto the Padres' MLB roster late last week. He appeared in one game for the Padres and failed to retire any of the three batters he faced. He allowed a hit, walked two batters, and threw a wild pitch on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

The right-hander spent most of this season in the minor leagues, splitting his time between the Cubs and Padres organizations. He leaves with a 3.30 earned run average across 46.1 innings on the farm.

The 32-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Padres in early July. Before he made his lone appearance with San Diego on Thursday, he had not appeared in a major league game since 2023 with the Washington Nationals. In 32 appearances last year, he had a 3.69 ERA across 31.2 innings.

The Carl Edwards Jr experiment is done again lol https://t.co/7utkXG1KiZ

— Sunny Diego... Padres beisbol (@diegornelas) August 12, 2024

Edwards was familiar with San Diego after having a stint with the Padres in 2019, but it went about as well as the second one did. He allowed six earned runs in 1.2 innings for a 32.40 ERA.

Edwards was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 48th round of the 2011 MLB Draft and made his big league debut with the Chicago Cubs in 2015. He won a World Series with the Cubs and remained with the club until 2019, when he was traded to San Diego at the deadline.

Edwards signed with the Seattle Mariners after the 2019 season, and bounced around the league with the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays, and Nationals since then.

He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs on Feb. 6. He was released on March 24 and re-signed on April 4. The Cubs released him again on June 16 which led him to San Diego. However, he was dominant in the minor leagues, sporting a 1.85 ERA across 20 appearances.

San Diego will put Edwards on waivers. He has accumulated more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment if he goes unclaimed. However, minor league offers are most likely all he will get if he elects free agency.

Edwards has a career 3.54 ERA across 295 relief appearances and will look to make an impact elsewhere.