The Texas Rangers have purchased the contract of righthanded pitcher Carl Edwards Jr., the team announced today. To make room for him on the 40 man roster, the Rangers have designated pitcher Caleb Boushley for assignment. In addition, prior to Friday’s game, the Rangers place outfielder Adolis Garcia on the 10 day injured list. To replace him on the active roster, the Rangers purchased the contract of outfielder Dustin Harris. To make room for Harris on the 40 man roster, the Rangers moved pitcher Jon
Gray from the 15 day injured list to the 60 day injured list.
So the Harris move came Friday, and once again, I’m doing the post on the transaction later than I should have, because that’s just how it is I guess. Garcia I thought might stick around on the active roster just due to the fact that rosters are expanded and it isn’t like whoever replaced him would get much playing time. Then Harris was added and drove in the game winning run in his first game, so that’s fun.
It remains to be seen when and if Garcia returns to the active roster, as he deals with a quad strain. It is not out of the realm of possibility that Garcia has played his final game as a Ranger, as he may not return to the active roster before the season ends, and he would seem to be a potential non-tender candidate this offseason.
Today’s move swapping out Boushley for Edwards is a matter of getting a fresh arm up for the bullpen after the 12 inning game on Friday and Boushley pitching yesterday. With Jacob Latz filling in for now as the fifth starter, Boushley was the only real long reliever. He’s not pitched well as of late — including last night’s five run, 0.2 innings disaster — and he was going to have to be run through waivers to be sent back down due to the number of times he’d been optioned this year anyway.
Edwards, 34, was the Rangers’ 48th round draft pick in 2011, and ended up being a consensus top-50 prospect in baseball for a couple of years in the mid-2010s. The Rangers traded him to the Cubs, along with Justin Grimm, Mike Olt, and a player to be named later who became Neil Ramirez, in exchange for Matt Garza at the 2013 trade deadline. Grimm, Ramirez and Edwards each had some good seasons in the bullpen for Chicago, and Edwards has spent at least part of every season since 2015 in the majors, though he has bounced around and been up and down the last half-decade or so.
The Angels released him this year at the end of April, and Edwards pitched in the Mexican League for a while before the Rangers signed him in late July to fortify the Round Rock rotation. Edwards will be a long man, I’m guessing, and potentially tag-team with Jacob Latz the next time Latz’s spot comes up in the rotation.
Edwards may not be long for the big leagues, as Tyler Mahle will presumably be back in the next week to ten days, and will need both an active roster spot and a 40 man roster spot when he does return. However, it is still neat that a former Ranger prospect who got traded away is now back and playing for the big league team here in Texas.
