One of baseball's skinniest pitchers is now a free agent.
Carl Edwards Jr., the one-time Chicago Cubs' flamethrowing prospect who was just under contract with the Texas Rangers, has elected free agency rather than pursue a new contract tender with the Rangers.
Major league players don't become free agents until five days after the World Series, but minor leaguers can already choose to become free agents now.
To elect free agency, Edwards had to have been outrighted off the 40-man roster during the 2025 season and not brought back (which he was), and he additionally qualified to elect free agency by having been outrighted off the 40-man roster multiple times in his career.
What this means is that Edwards can immediately begin negotiating with any team to sign a new contract.
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The Rangers could attempt to bring him back if that's what they want.
Edwards is 34 years old now, and he's listed at 6-foot-3 and 165 pounds. One of his nicknames on Baseball Reference is The String Bean Slinger.
He actually entered professional baseball as a 48th-round pick in the 2011 draft by the Rangers out of Mid-Carolina High School.
Edwards entered the majors in 2015 and pitched five seasons for the Cubs.
He has since pitched for the Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Atlanta Braves and the Rangers.
Edwards began his 2025 season with two outings for the Angels, then pitched two scoreless outings for the Rangers.
He has a career 3.56 ERA with 334 strikeouts in 286 innings pitched.
Someone will sign Edwards. It just becomes a question of where, and whether he'll get a legitimate chance to pitch in the majors or not.
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