Life is all about the yin and the yang, I suppose. So while good news on Yu Darvish’s MRI came out earlier today, the other shoe was about to drop:
The #Cubs today placed RHP Carl Edwards Jr. on the 10-day DL with right shoulder inflammation and recalled RHP Cory Mazzoni from @IowaCubs. pic.twitter.com/JxVGT5KTH3
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 30, 2018
The Cubs just announced that one of their very best relievers and set-up men, Carl Edwards Jr., is hitting the disabled list with right-shoulder inflammation. If you recall, Edwards dealt with some significant shoulder issues back during the 2014 season that took him a while to come back from and eventually limited his innings in 2015, too. Although, it’s worth pointing out that Edwards was still a prospect back then – a fairly big-time pitching prospect for the Cubs, to boot – so some extreme caution was not really unexpected.
Of course, just because he’s come back from a similar injury before doesn’t mean this is no big deal. Re-injuring the same area is never a good thing and the shoulder is a particularly worrisome spot for pitchers. Hopefully, though, Edwards is only forced to miss the minimum and is back again before we even notice. And that goes double, considering how good he’s been this season: 2.88 ERA, 2.39 FIP; 38.1 K% and 11.4 BB%. Who knows, maybe the Cubs are just finally taking full-advantage of the recently shortened 10-Day DL to help preserve their pitchers at the slightest notice of something wrong. For now, we’ll leave it here – we’ll discuss his DL stint further when more information becomes available.
As for his replacement, with Luke Farrell and Randy Rosario already on the big league roster, the Cubs are calling up right-hander Cory Mazzoni, who was already on the 40-man and was up with the Cubs back at the beginning of May (he threw a perfect inning against the Marlins and went back to Iowa). In the Minors this season, Mazzoni has been really good. Indeed, he’s struck out 22 batters in just 21.2 innings pitched, while walking only 5 (two of which were intentional) and allowing just a .222 AVG against. Overall, he’s got a 1.25 ERA with a 3.22 FIP.
He’s no Carl Edwards Jr. – few are – but he’s a fine replacement in the meantime. The Cubs roster and pitching depth has been tested quite a bit here lately, but the Cubs have pulled through so far. Let’s see if they can pull it off a little while longer, as Yu Darvish, Carl Edwards, Eddie Butler, Tyler Chatwood and others heal up and/or figure things out.