The Chicago Cubs have announced a bunch of roster moves in advance of tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
As expected, Nicky Lopez has indeed been signed and will be with the team tonight. He’s on a big league deal, and will bolster the bench, at least defensively.
To open a spot on the 26-man roster (and 40-man roster), the Cubs have designated infielder Gage Workman for assignment. The Cubs will now expose him to waivers, where a team could claim him, albeit still subject to Rule 5 restrictions. If he clears waivers, the Cubs then have to offer Workman back to the Tigers for $50,000. If they decline, the Cubs get to keep Workman free and clear, and they can send him to Triple-A Iowa where he pretty clearly needs work.
We’ll see how that plays out over the next week or so. Ideally, the Cubs would get to keep Workman as a true prospect in the minors, but it’s possible the Tigers are eager to get him back.
The Cubs also officially added lefty Drew Pomeranz to the big league roster. To open a 40-man roster spot, Justin Steele was moved to the 60-day IL. To open a 26-man roster spot, Gavin Hollowell was optioned to Iowa.
We discussed the Pomeranz move here earlier in the week, and if he appears in a game for the Cubs, it’ll be his first big league action since 2021. Given that he’s shown some good stuff at Triple-A now that he’s healthy again, and given the Cubs’ limited lefty options, I don’t have a problem with the Cubs taking a flier on Pomeranz in isolation. I hope he does well.
That said, the Hollowell option is a huge bummer for the player, no doubt, but also a potential gaffe from where I sit. I expect that the Cubs didn’t know Hollowell would look that great when they, a day in advance it seems, made the decision that Hollowell would come up for last night only, and then be replaced by Pomeranz. And since Hollowell would be down for tonight’s game anyway, the Cubs decided he was nevertheless the right guy to bounce. He now can’t come back – absent an injury elsewhere on the staff – for 15 days. That sucks big time. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite the Cubs in the butt.
