Chicago Cubs: Will Carl Edwards Jr. finally prove himself this season?

At the end of last season, Chicago Cubs Pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. was not impressive during pressure games. Can he be relied upon this year to be a solid arm for the Cubs bullpen?

Just before the postseason last year, I wrote an article that was popular among fans called, “Chicago Cubs: Carl Edwards Jr. should not be on any postseason roster” (see the full article HERE)

And the point I made, that was agreed on by many fans when the story was posted, was the premise that Carl Edwards Jr. was just not the talent that everyone was claiming.

Further, I made the point that Joe Maddon and anyone else who was coddling him had to either be blind, crazy or just covering for a blooper in judgment by management.

We all know the history. Edwards never had the chance to prove his worth during the postseason and Maddon was spared having to decide whether to put Edwards on a postseason roster. Chances are he might not have made that roster considering he never threw a ball in the Wild Card game. You’ve got to remember; he wasn’t reliable.

But that’s all in the past. Right? This is 2019 and a new Cubs season, and everyone deserves to start over because there were a lot of problems besides Edwards last season. Most of those ‘problems’ were fired right after the season was over. Guess who is still around? Has Edwards even proved he has the talent to be in the show?

Chicago Cubs: Edwards numbers

Now don’t start sending me nasty mail because I’m reminding everyone of what they may have forgotten. I do believe that as players take the field and experience more, they get better. With the number of tough games that Edwards has played since 2015, he’s got to be getting better. His 2015 ERA has gone from 3.86 to an impressive 2.60 last year.  He had 94 strikeouts in 2017 and tanked last year with only 68. That deficit could be attributed to his time off with an injury, right?

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis

Now whether you believe he was actually injured or not ( I believed at the time Maddon was letting him cool down from being such a mess), Edwards was on the disabled list for a while last season which cost him some of those games. I don’t believe he would throw 26 more strikeouts during his break, which would have tied his 94 in 2017. So it’s safe to say he was on the decline last season.

Edwards gave up only six fewer walks (32) last year than in 2017 (38). The difference last season was the Cubs had a hard time putting runs up on the board and Edwards’s meltdowns seemed to come at crucial times when the Cubs could not afford to let him walk too many batters.

With money issues this year, the Cubs kept most of their players intact. So we begin another season with Edwards still playing in a crucial position for the Cubs bullpen.

Don’t think the pressure isn’t on in that bullpen; with Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish trying to regain his name and injured Cubs pitcher ‘Can’t-put-his-pants-on-without-falling-down’ Brandon Morrow still recovering from surgery (stay in the bed Brandon – no more injuries please), you can bet Edwards is going to have some pressure right out of the gate.

The question? Can he handle it this season?

The jury’s still out.