Thanks to everyone for the very kind birthday wishes. It was a swell day – family time, date night, couple drinks, good Mexican food, good dessert, a little AFL baseball, mostly restful sleep (with an extra hour!) – and I enjoyed it.
And now 364 straight days of crap.
(I kid.)
From a procedural standpoint, it was expected that outrighted outfielder Ryan Kalish would elect free agency, which he now has. That doesn’t mean, however, that Kalish might not stick in the Cubs’ organization, if he and the team feel like it’s the best fit going forward. The 26-year-old Kalish was a great comeback story for the Cubs in Spring Training, but he struggled at the big league level when he had shots this year, and his numbers at AAA Iowa weren’t overwhelming. As a depth option – 7th/8th outfielder – Kalish is a good guy to have in the organization, because of his speed and defensive versatility. But it’s hard to see him making an impact at the big league level next year, and, for that reason, if he elects to move on to another organization, we’ll just wish him well.
Edwards was the only Cubs prospect in the game, and he made the most of his inning of work (someone out there is now going, “see! reliever upside!”). Here’s to a healthy year in 2015, which could see Edwards start the year at AAA Iowa and make an appearance in the bigs midseason. Given that Edwards will be placed on the 40-man roster this offseason (protection from Rule 5 Draft), given the increasing move toward younger players in the bigs (Edwards is 23), and given the possibility that the Cubs could be competitive in 2015, they may not want to waste too many of his bullets in the minors. If Edwards does make an appearance at the big league level in 2015, the bullpen seems like a fair bet for a transition. Edwards dealt with the shoulder issue last year, and probably won’t accumulate a huge number of innings next year. Putting him in the big league pen come June/July is one way to moderate his innings in 2015 in the most impactful way, while simultaneously providing a benefit to the big league team and exposing Edwards to the best hitters in professional baseball for developmental purposes. From there, Edwards could move back into the rotation in the future – many teams have successfully used this kind of development path for young arms.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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