Well this stinks and also, what the hell? So, the Cubs have placed righty Carl Edwards Jr. on the injured list with a back issue and that's unfortunate because he's been really good since coming back from Iowa. Anyway, hopefully it's not too serious and Edwards returns in 10 days.
Here's the head-scratching part. The Cubs called up lefty Tim Collins to take Edwards' spot in the bullpen.
Ugh...OK.
Collins has been up with the Cubs in 2019, and well he's just blah. In five appearances the lefty gave up two runs. Last year he pitched in 38 games for the Nationals and had a 4.37 ERA in 22.2 innings. Before that he didn't pitch in the majors since 2014 because of injuries.
Despite being a left-handed pitcher, Collins hasn't been exactly dominant against left-handed hitters in his career. Really a reverse splits guy. So far at Triple-A this season Collins has given up four earned runs in 17 innings, (2.12 ERA) striking out 18 and walking nine.
The Cubs already have lefties Kyle Ryan and Mike Montgomery in the bullpen. How about replacing Edwards with another hard-throwing righty instead of Tim Collins?
Oh and Craig Kimbrel faced live hitters in Arizona on Thursday. Cubs say they won't be rushing him to the majors. No official timeline has been given, but he should be in the bullpen before the end of June.
Loading comments...