Tigers, Carl Edwards Jr. Agree To Minor League Deal
The Tigers are in agreement with right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. on a minor league contract, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. The Ballengee Group client will report to Triple-A Toledo.
Edwards elected free agency on Monday after being designated for assignment by the Mets on April 30. He’d made two appearances and tossed six innings of one-run ball with 11 punchouts. It was impressive work but came in mop-up situations against the Nationals and Rockies, respectively. As a journeyman who can’t be optioned to the minor leagues, Edwards had an uphill path to holding his spot on the 40-man roster.
Those six innings matched Edwards’ big league workload from the 2025 season, which he split between the Rangers and Angels. He only made one MLB appearance in ’24 with the Padres. It has been three years since his most recent extended big league action, when Edwards spent a few seasons holding a middle relief spot in Washington.
A reliever for most of his career, the 34-year-old has built up as a starter in Triple-A this year. He made four starts and got up to five innings in an appearance twice. The numbers weren’t great, as Edwards surrendered 13 runs (10 earned) while walking 11 batters across 17 frames. Detroit could look to keep him stretched out in Toledo even if Edwards is unlikely to be more than a long relief option at the MLB level.
Carl Edwards Jr. Elects Free Agency
Veteran righty Carl Edwards Jr. elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’d been designated for assignment by the Mets on Thursday.
Edwards had a brief stint on the active roster, pitching twice over six days. He showed well in that limited look, striking out 11 across six innings of one-run ball. Edwards issued four walks but only allowed three hits. He got swinging strikes at a massive 17.2% rate.
Those six innings matched his MLB workload last season, divided over four games between the Rangers and Angels. He failed to record an out in his lone MLB appearance in 2024. Edwards hasn’t had an extended look at the big league level since he was a member of the Nationals three years ago.
He has continued to bounce around the league via a series of minor league contracts. Edwards has been a reliever for the majority of his career but started four games for Triple-A Syracuse before the Mets called him up. He worked multiple innings in both of his MLB appearances. He should find a new minor league deal, perhaps returning to the Mets, within the coming days.
Mets Designate Carl Edwards Jr. For Assignment
The Mets announced Thursday that reliever Carl Edwards Jr. has been designated for assignment. They also confirmed the previously reported IL placement for center fielder Luis Robert Jr., who’s been diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation. Righty Austin Warren and recently claimed corner infielder Eric Wagaman are up from Triple-A Syracuse in a pair of corresponding moves.
Edwards, 34, signed a minor league deal back in December. The longtime reliever opened the season as a starter in the Mets’ Syracuse rotation but was added to the big league bullpen earlier this month. He’s pitched well, holding opponents to one run in six innings. Edwards has punched out a whopping 44% of his opponents (11 of 25) but has also dished out four free passes already (16%).
A key member of the Cubs’ bullpen from 2016-18, Edwards has bounced around the league in the eight years since. The Mets are Edwards’ ninth club in the majors, and this year’s six innings already tie his highest single-season workload since 2023.
Edwards also had a productive two-year stint with the Nats in 2022-23, but his stops with the other seven clubs for which he’s pitched have typically been fleeting. In addition to the Cubs and Nationals, he’s suited up for the Padres, Mariners, Braves, Blue Jays, Angels and Rangers. However, Edwards hasn’t pitched more than six innings for any of those teams. Overall, he carries a career 3.51 ERA in the majors, though most of his production came during that initial run with the Cubs, when he had about three extra miles per hour on his fastball over his current 92.5 mph average velocity.
The Mets will have five days to place Edwards on waivers, release him, or trade him. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minors even if he clears waivers, so barring a minor trade for cash, he’s likely to end up a free agent. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so his DFA will be resolved in no more than seven days.
Mets Select Carl Edwards Jr.
1:15pm: The Mets have now made it official, announcing they have selected Edwards and optioned Scott.
12:37pm: The Mets are going to select the contract of right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. from Triple-A Syracuse, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Fellow righty Christian Scott will be optioned in a corresponding active roster move. The Mets have two open 40-man spots, so Edwards can fill one of those vacancies.
Edwards, 34, has had productive stretches in the past with the Cubs and Nationals. He’s barely pitched in the majors over the past couple seasons, however, logging just five total appearances (six innings) in 2024-25. He’s spent the bulk of those seasons in Triple-A between the Padres, Cubs, Rangers and Angels organizations.
Edwards has worked exclusively as a reliever in the majors. All 300 of his big league appearances have come out of the bullpen. He worked as a starter with the Triple-A clubs for the Padres (2024) and Rangers (2025), however, and that’s the role he’s had so far in Syracuse. He’s started four games and pitched to a 5.29 ERA across 17 frames. He hasn’t missed bats at his typical levels (just an 18.5% strikeout rate) and has battled with command. However, the Mets need some length after Scott didn’t make it out of the second inning in yesterday’s game; David Peterson and Tobias Myers both threw 40 or more pitches in long relief and will be unavailable today.
If Edwards makes it into a game with the Mets, they’ll be the ninth MLB team for which he has suited up dating back to his 2015 big league debut. Edwards, who won a World Series ring as a key member of the Cubs’ 2016 bullpen, carries a lifetime 3.56 earned run average, 28% strikeout rate, 12.7% walk rate, 42.1% ground-ball rate and 0.88 homers per nine innings pitched in 286 major league innings. He can’t be optioned, so this will likely go down as a short stint that results in him being designated for assignment and placed on waivers. Even if that’s the case, he’ll add another handful of days onto his seven-plus years of MLB service time.
Optioning Scott means that he won’t be available to start the next time his rotation spot comes up, unless he’s recalled as a replacement for an injured player in the interim. Barring an injury replacement scenario, he’d need to spend at least 15 days in Syracuse before he could again be summoned to the majors. That likely puts one of Peterson, Myers or Sean Manaea in line to take the bulk of the innings — whether in a traditional start or following an opener — next Tuesday when that rotation spot comes up again.
Mets, Carl Edwards Jr. Agree To Minor League Deal
TODAY: In an interesting twist, the Mets may utilize Edwards as a starter at Triple-A, according to Sammon and Ken Rosenthal. Edwards has never started a big league game, but he made 19 Triple-A starts over the last two seasons with the Rangers, Angels, and Padres’ top affiliates, plus he made 14 starts in the Mexican League in 2025.
DECEMBER 8: The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent reliever Carl Edwards Jr., reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Edwards, a client of the Ballengee Group, will be in major league camp next spring as a non-roster invitee.
Edwards, 34, pitched just six big league innings last season between the Angels and Rangers, allowing three runs on four hits and three walks with six punchouts. He’s pitched for eight teams across parts of 11 major league seasons, totaling a 3.56 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate in 286 frames.
Once regarded as a top pitching prospect, the 6’3″, 165-pound Edwards settled in as an important reliever with the Cubs back in their 2016 World Series run and in subsequent seasons. From 2016-18, the “Stringbean Slinger” tossed 154 1/3 innings of 3.03 ERA ball with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but a hefty 13.5% walk rate.
Edwards slipped into journeyman status shortly thereafter, as his command troubles worsened and his struggles became untenable. He had a resurgence with the Nats in 2022-23, however, combining for 93 2/3 innings with a 3.07 earned run average. His 20.1% strikeout rate was a far cry from his Cubs peak, although his 10.6% walk rate was also an improvement.
Edwards spent the bulk of last season in Triple-A, working to a 4.44 ERA through 50 2/3 frames in an extremely hitter-friendly environment. He set down 25.8% of his opponents on strikes and posted a 7.2% walk rate that stands as the best mark of his career in any notable sample. He also induced grounders at a hearty 54.9% rate in Triple-A. He’ll be a veteran depth option with the Mets — one of several such additions surely on the docket this winter.
Nine Players Elect Free Agency
Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents. Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.
To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back. These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.
We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion. Unless otherwise credited, these free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.
Catchers
- Eric Haase (Brewers)
- Chad Wallach (Angels)
Outfielders
- Akil Baddoo (Tigers)
- Dominic Fletcher (White Sox) (per Scott Merkin of MLB.com)
- Corey Julks (White Sox) (per Merkin)
Pitchers
- Carl Edwards Jr. (Rangers)
- Trevor Richards (Diamondbacks)
- Keegan Thompson (Cubs)
- Randy Wynne (Reds)
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images
Rangers Outright Carl Edwards Jr.
September 23: Edwards was outrighted off the roster, reports Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News. It’s not clear if the veteran reliever will spend the final few days of the season in the minors or elect free agency and look ahead to next season.
September 19: The Rangers announced that right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a roster spot for right-hander Tyler Mahle‘s reinstatement from the 60-day injured list, a move that was reported earlier this week.
Edwards, 34, was selected to the roster just under two weeks ago. He made two appearances for the Rangers and tossed three scoreless innings, though in fairly low leverage scenarios when the club was trailing.
It’s been a bit of a nomadic year for Edwards. He signed with the Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican League in March but then was able to get a minor league deal from the Angels a few weeks later. He was called up by the Halos in late April but was designated for assignment after just three days on the roster. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and went back to Quintana Roo to rejoin the Tigres. The Rangers then gave him a minor league deal in July.
Around all those transactions, he has a 4.50 earned run average in six big league innings and a 3.38 ERA in 74 2/3 Mexican League innings. He has also logged 50 2/3 minor league innings with a 4.44 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 54.9% ground ball rate.
With the trade deadline having passed, he’ll be on waivers in the coming days. There isn’t likely to be much interest. The season has barely a week remaining and Edwards wouldn’t be playoff eligible with any claiming club. He’s an impending free agent, so there’s no long-term benefit to a claim. If he clears waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Rangers Select Carl Edwards Jr., Designate Caleb Boushley
The Rangers have selected the contract of right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. from Triple-A Round Rock, according to multiple beat writers. To create space on both the 28-man and 40-man rosters, Texas designed right-hander Caleb Boushley for assignment.
Edwards’ 2025 season has consisted of two big league games with the Angels, a brief stint in the Mexican League, and 15 games (and 50 2/3 total innings) at the Triple-A level with the Angels’ and Rangers’ top affiliates. His time in Mexico ended when the Rangers inked Edwards to a minor league contract in July, and today’s selection is something of a full circle moment in the veteran’s career. Texas drafted Edwards in the 48th round of the 2011 draft, but he has never appeared in a big league game in a Rangers uniform, as the team dealt him to the Cubs in advance of the 2013 trade deadline.
After making his MLB debut with Chicago in 2015, Edwards became a staple of the Cubs’ bullpen during the 2016-18 seasons, but success has been much more sporadic for Edwards in the intervening years. Since Opening Day 2019, Edwards has pitched for seven different teams at the Major League level, with a 4.28 ERA over 124 innings in that nomadic stretch. The righty’s contributions to the last two seasons consisted of just a single game with the Padres in 2024, and then his two games with the Angels earlier this year.
Edwards’ 5.31 ERA over 39 innings at Round Rock doesn’t jump off the page, but his 26% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate, and 53.6% grounder rate are more palatable. The grounder-heavy arsenal has contributed to that inflated ERA, as Edwards has an unlucky .362 BABIP with the Rangers’ Triple-A club. Though Edwards is best known as a reliever, he has been trying to reinvent himself as a starter during his time in the Mexican League and in the minors, and he has started seven of his eight games in Round Rock.
The Rangers used six different pitchers in yesterday’s 11-0 loss to the Astros, so Edwards is very likely being brought up as an innings-eating long relief option rather than as a candidate for the rotation. If Edwards does happen to make a spot start, it would make the first start of his 11-year Major League career.
Boushley was one of the pitchers who took the mound in yesterday’s rout and was hit the hardest, allowing five runs to the Astros in an inning of relief work. If this DFA marks the end of Boushley’s time with the Rangers, he’ll have bookended his stint with five-run appearances, as he was also touched up for five ER over 3 2/3 innings in his Texas debut on April 12.
Over 43 2/3 innings this season, Boushley has an ugly 6.02 ERA but a much more respectable 3.81 SIERA. Some bad batted-ball luck (.358 BABIP) is to blame, not to mention a 58.7% strand rate. Boushley’s 7.3% walk rate and 21.2% strikeout rate have been decent, so a rival team exploring the waiver wire might have interest in the righty’s services. Boushley has two minor league option years remaining, so a waiver claim now could be more designed towards adding some relief depth for 2026 than the remainder of the 2025 campaign.
Boushley had pitched just 6 1/3 big league innings prior to 2025, and he has a 4.60 ERA across 503 1/3 innings (starting 97 of 105 games) at the Triple-A level. He has a prior outright on his resume, so if he clears waivers, Boushley has the right to reject an outright assignment to Round Rock and instead choose free agency.
Rangers Sign Carl Edwards Jr. To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed veteran right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Round Rock. Kennedi Landry of MLB.com was among those to relay the news.
Edwards, 33, returns to his original organization. The Rangers drafted him back in 2013, though he was traded to the Cubs prior to his major league debut. He went on to have his best years with the Cubs, winning a ring with them in 2016.
More recently, Edwards has been up and down as he has entered journeyman mode. After a rough 2019 season, he struggled to get playing time for a few years. He had a nice bounceback with the Nationals in 2022. He carried that over into 2023 somewhat but then got shut down in August of that year due to a stress fracture in his shoulder. He was limited to just one major league appearance last year and has made just two this year.
His 2025 season has seen him go to Mexico and back a couple of times now. In early March, he signed with the Tigres de Quintana Roo. But by late March, he had a minor league deal with the Angels. He was called up to the majors in late April, made two appearances for the Halos before being designated for assignment. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and then rejoined the Tigres.
Though he’s been a reliever throughout his MLB career, he’s been starting for the Tigers for the past few months. He tossed 74 2/3 innings over 14 starts with a 3.38 earned run average, 18.9% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. For context, it’s worth pointing out that the Mexican League is very hitter-friendly, with a league-wide ERA of 5.90 this year.
The Rangers have sacrificed some Triple-A starting depth in recent months. Adrian Houser was granted his release in May and signed with the White Sox. Gerson Garabito was released to sign in Korea last month. Dane Dunning was traded to Atlanta last week to trim some payroll. Six pitchers have made eight or more starts for Round Rock this year and three of them are no longer in the organization.
Edwards is stretched out and has been pitching well, relative to the standards of the Mexican League, so he’ll presumably plug into the rotation for the Express and give the Rangers some extra depth in that department.
Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images
Carl Edwards Jr., Matt Foster Sign With Mexican League Teams
A pair of former big league relievers are among those who recently signed with Mexican League teams. Carl Edwards Jr. rejoined the Tigers de Quintana Roo on Tuesday, while Matt Foster signed with the Algodoneros del Unión Laguna last week.
This is the second time this year that Edwards has signed with Quintana Roo. He initially joined the team in mid-March. He left to sign a minor league deal with the Angels before the season began. Edwards made seven Triple-A appearances and was called up by the Halos last month. He pitched twice in the big leagues, allowing three runs in as many innings. The Angels designated him for assignment, and he elected free agency after going unclaimed on waivers.
Edwards evidently preferred to return to Mexico rather than accept an outright assignment with the Halos. He’s making his Mexican League debut tonight. This year’s brief stint with the Angels marked his 11th consecutive season logging major league action. He’s only made three combined appearances over the past two years but was a decent middle reliever for the Nationals between 2022-23.
Foster, 30, is a righty who elected free agency at the start of the offseason after being waived by the White Sox. The Alabama product had pitched in parts of four seasons with Chicago, tallying 119 1/3 innings. He spent most of the 2020-22 seasons in Chicago’s middle relief group. Foster underwent Tommy John surgery early in the ’23 campaign.
That cost him nearly a year and a half of action. He tossed 6 2/3 frames of two-run ball for the Sox late last season after his return. That came with a 91.9 MPH average fastball velocity that was down two ticks from where he’d been sitting before the surgery. MLB teams were clearly skeptical of the diminished stuff. He allowed a run on three hits in an inning of work in his debut with the Algodoneros.