Cubs trade Carl Edwards Jr. to Padres

The Cubs have spent the last couple of days revamping their bullpen, and the revamping continued Wednesday with this trade announced about an hour after the trading deadline had passed:

Carl Edwards Jr. had been a lights-out reliever for part of his time with the Cubs, but never seemed quite the same after a shoulder injury put him on the shelf for a couple of months in 2018. He wound up optioned to Iowa at the beginning of this season after a horrid start, then was on the injured list again after throwing pretty well for six weeks in May and June.

After he returned from Iowa about two weeks ago, he made one mediocre appearance — coincidentally, against the Padres — and then was sent back to Triple-A.

Again, there’s no word yet on the return in this deal, and since CJ was not currently on the big-league roster there won’t be any moves affecting the 25-man roster. This move does open up the spot on the 40-man roster that will be needed to add Nicholas Castellanos when he arrives, likely tomorrow. This post will be updated when the return from the Padres is made public.

UPDATE! Here’s the return from the Padres for CJ:

Edwards was the last piece the Cubs had in their organization from the trade of Matt Garza to the Texas Rangers in July 2013. Justin Grimm, Neil Ramirez and Mike Olt also came to the Cubs in that deal. The Cubs did get value out of Edwards and Grimm, for a time, at least.

I wish CJ well in San Diego; he likely will join the Padres big-league bullpen.

And I will never forget this:

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images