The Cubs should send Carl Edwards Jr. to the minor leagues

I mentioned this in the recap to Sunday’s disaster, but thought it was worth breaking out into a full article for discussion.

After a great first half, Carl Edwards Jr. has run into trouble both with command, and after Sunday, giving up way too many runs.

On July 18, CJ’s ERA was 2.11. Since then in eight appearances covering 6⅓ innings, he’s allowed five hits and nine walks (2.211 WHIP) and 11 earned runs (15.63 ERA). The nicest thing I can say about those numbers is... they aren’t good. His season ERA is now 3.83.

Going back even farther, the problem comes into even greater focus. After an outing against the Nationals in Washington on June 26, CJ had an ERA of 1.72 and an 0.830 WHIP. He’d walked 14 batters in 31⅓ innings, which is a walk rate of 4.02 per nine innings. High, but not totally unreasonable.

Since then, through Sunday: 15 appearances, 13⅓ innings, nine hits and 16 walks allowed, and 13 earned runs for a 1.875 WHIP and 8.78 ERA. The walk rate for those 15 outings: 10.8 per nine innings. Yikes.

It’s August 7. That’s 25 days until rosters can be expanded for September. I think CJ could benefit from the three and a half weeks at Triple-A Iowa. He’s got options remaining, so he could be sent down and Justin Grimm or Felix Pena recalled to fill that slot until September 1. Hopefully, that time at Iowa would help him get his confidence back and his command back and he could dominate Triple-A hitters and return and dominate big-league hitters the way he did in the first half of this year — a first half, I might remind you, that some here were suggesting he could even get an All-Star team selection.

Don’t get me wrong: I like CJ. Great arm, great attitude, works hard. But I think he needs a break.

I hope management sees things this way and can make this move soon.