Cubs roster move: Carl Edwards Jr. to Iowa, Rowan Wick recalled

Carl Edwards Jr. has had a rough year. He got hit hard in three of his first four outings, was optioned to Triple-A Iowa for a month, was recalled and was very good for a month, then suffered a left thoracic strain and spent a month on the injured list.

Sunday he was just bad, coming into a one-run game and issuing a walk, hitting a batter and giving up a two-run single.

Today, he’s headed back to Des Moines:

I have to think CJ might still be injured. He hasn’t really been consistently good since he went down with a shoulder injury in May 2018. Then there was the little kerfuffle at the start of this season about his “toe-tap” motion, which was apparently OK’d in spring training, then nixed when the season began. His velocity is down from its peak of 95-96 in 2017. He might benefit from more time on the IL.

Rowan Wick has a good arm. He threw pretty well in three outings on a June recall, then got touched up for a couple of runs in the 18-5 blowout by the Pirates July 1. He’s been lights-out in his latest stint in Iowa: seven games, 6⅔ innings, two hits, one walk, 10 strikeouts. Per Fangraphs, he can dial it up to 95 with his fastball, and at Iowa he was reasonably good against lefthanded hitters (.229/.327/.313, no HR in 55 PA). One thing to remember about Wick is that he was drafted as a hitter (and hit 20 HR in 74 games with a .990 OPS in the Cardinals system in 2014) and has been pitching fulltime only since 2016. He’s got a good arm and appears ready to contribute at the MLB level.

This move has not yet been officially announced by the Cubs; I’ll update this article when it is.

UPDATE: No word from the Cubs yet, but it appears Wick is going to be the guy: