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The Cubs have signed right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. and catcher Ali Sanchez to minor league offers, as introduced yesterday by the staff’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa. Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register (X link) was the primary to report that Edwards was figuring out with the Iowa pitching workers on Thursday.
Edwards is again for what’s technically a 3rd stint with the Cubs, after he opted out of his earlier minor league cope with the membership two weeks in the past. After testing the market, Edwards now returns to a well-recognized setting to see if one other MLB alternative would possibly but emerge within the Wrigleyville bullpen, and it’s assumed that his new minors pact most likely has a minimum of one opt-out clause.
A veteran of 9 Main League seasons, Edwards posted a 3.69 ERA in 31 2/3 innings for the Nationals in an abbreviated 2023 marketing campaign. Edwards didn’t pitch after June 19 as a consequence of a prognosis of shoulder irritation and later a stress fracture that developed in late August. The harm introduced a bitter finish to what had been a fairly profitable run in D.C., as Edwards revived his profession with a 2.76 ERA over 62 innings for the Nats in 2022. The righty had principally struggled within the earlier three seasons, which hastened the tip of his authentic run with the Cubs when Chicago traded him to the Padres on the 2019 commerce deadline.
With Edwards bringing some bullpen depth to the Triple-A, Sanchez will do the identical to the Cubs’ catching ranks. Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya appear to be entrenched because the energetic roster’s catching duo, so Sanchez joins veteran Curt Casali in Iowa, and Joe Hudson (who signed a minors cope with Chicago within the offseason) has been moved to the Triple-A affiliate’s developmental record. This placement could be a approach to preserve Hudson sharp whereas the Cubs type out their catching state of affairs, or it may probably trace that Hudson may finally be the odd man out.
Sanchez signed a assured huge league contract with the Pirates in December, although Pittsburgh designated the catcher for project on Opening Day. Since Sanchez had beforehand been outrighted in his profession, he had the correct to decide into free company quite than settle for Pittsburgh’s outright project to Triple-A, and the backstop certainly took the prospect to re-enter the open market.
The Cubs are Sanchez’s sixth completely different group in lower than 38 months. His solely MLB expertise consists 5 video games with the Mets in 2020 and two video games with the 2021 Cardinals, because the catcher has in any other case bounced round as a depth possibility. Whereas not likely recognized for his bat, Sanchez has a good .275/.345/.402 slash line over 893 profession plate appearances on the Triple-A stage, although these numbers have been boosted by a pleasant 2023 season with the Diamondbacks’ high affiliate within the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
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