To avoid making a corresponding move on their 25 man roster, Theo Epstein and Company could have gambled by placing Borbon right back on waivers to see if the rest of the National League would have passed on the lefty outfielder. Instead the Cubs front office made the surprise move of designating for assignment Alberto Gonzalez.

Apr 19, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jean Segura (9) waits for the call after tagging out Chicago Cubs pinch runner Julio Borbon trying to steal 2nd base to end the game at Miller Park. The Brewetrs beat the Cubs 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The decision is a bit of a head scratcher because the Cubs are thin in the infield compared to the outfield depth. While Gonzalez is far from being an All Star, he was certainly more productive than the recently waived Brent Lillibridge and the newly acquired Cody Ransom so far in 2013. It was assumed once Gonzalez survived the return of Darwin Barney, his task would have been to survive the return of Ian Stewart in approximately a week.

Instead the move has been made now and the Cubs are left with the 0 for 11 Ransom, to be known as Lillibridge 2.0 until further offensive production notice. Ransom would be the lone back up infielder until the return of Stewart and the Cubs technically do not have a back up at first base with Steve Clevenger on the 60 day DL.

Borbon actually made an appearance in Friday night’s game against the Brewers, coming in as a pinch runner for Dioner Navarro in the top of the ninth. He proceeded to attempt to steal second, but was caught. Currently Borbon would project as a Tony Campana type; a left handed hitter with some speed without much of a power stroke. Borbon may not beat Campana in a foot race, but he figures to hit for a higher average than the former Cub speedster if Borbon can reach his potential.

In terms of the minor league outfield depth, Borbon joins Brian Bogusevic, Ryan Sweeney, and Brett Jackson as the lefty sticks. He of course brings a different type of skill set compared to those three, but it would allow the Cubs the luxury of not having to rush Jackson back.

It remains to be seen how the front office will handle the new found gluttony in the outfield. With Stewart due to return in a week or so, the odd man out may be Dave Sappelt. The right handed platoon member in center field has struggled as the lead off man against left handed starting pitchers, which is suppose to be his forte. The Cubs might as well take their chances with David DeJesus leading off against lefties as well at this rate. Sappelt also has two options remaining, which would mean the Cubs could send him down to the minors without exposing him to waivers.

Otherwise, barring a trade, the Cubs would have to drop Ransom when Stewart returns. A trade for Alfonso Soriano, DeJesus, or Nate Schierholtz figures unlikely this early in the season, as trade value would be best leveraged as contending teams try to reload on the run in July.

Even if the Cubs performance on the field has not been piquing your interest, how the roster moves play out for the good of the team’s future goals is certainly something to keep track of.

For starters we will review a couple transactions conducted over the weekend. As the corresponding move to Kyuji Fujikawa being placed on the disabled list, the Cubs had called up reliever Rafael Dolis on Saturday. After making a brief 1/3 of an inning appearance to end the game Sunday afternoon, Dolis was optioned back down to Iowa on the off day yesterday. No corresponding move for the bullpen has been made until this afternoon. With the waiver wire pick up of Kameron Loe on Sunday and the minor league free agent signing of Kevin Gregg, at least one of the two figured to be the answer for the one void in the relief corps. With Loe having to be placed on the 40 man roster, my educated guess would have been for the former Mariner replacing Dolis. To a bit of my surprise, the Cubs also purchased the contract of Gregg, effectively adding him to the 40 man as well and in turn bumping lefty Hisanori Takahashi via DFA (designated for assignment).

The right handed Loe was picked up after being discarded by Seattle. The veteran pitcher had made four appearances so far this season and did not impress his now former team in 6 2/3 innings of work over four appearances, racking up a 10.80 ERA with a 1.80 WHIP. The Cubs deciding to pick Loe off of the waiver wire may be damning of the current state of the Cubs bullpen. The organization may be looking for lightening in a bottle here. However, the real surprise was the immediate addition of Gregg as I mentioned earlier. That reaction to the transaction is not necessarily a reflection of Gregg’s numbers over the past few seasons, but the fact that as a minor league signing, there was no roster limitation that was forcing the hand of Theo Epstein.

Gregg had an excellent Spring Training with the Dodgers compared to the bad numbers he posted in 2011 and 2012 during the pre season, but the veteran righty had not made the cut with the stacked Los Angeles squad and apparently teams were not necessarily knocking down his door to snatch him up. While Takahashi was not lights out during his three appearances with the Cubs, my inclination would have been to keep a second left handed arm in the pen over a veteran right handed journeyman reliever. Maybe my almost nonexistent expectations out of Gregg stem from being biased over his unsuccessful stint with the Cubs last time in 2009. The signing may even be the penalty for my mere mentioning of his name in my Carlos Marmol post over a week ago. If the Gregg experiment crashes and burns, I hope to not get the Steve Bartman treatment.

February 23, 2012; Mesa, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum (center), president Theo Epstein (left), and general manager Jed Hoyer (right) watch the inaugural match play bunting tournament during spring training at Fitch Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The move to allow space for Loe on the 40 man was the placement of third string catcher Steve Clevenger on the 60 day DL. Those of you who watched the game on Saturday will recall that the left handed stick ended the afternoon with a strikeout before crumpling to the ground with what was later diagnosed as a strained oblique, a repeat injury for Clevenger. The catcher slash infielder was expected to be out at least six weeks, so combined with a rehab stint to get back into shape, being placed on the 60 day DL was a move that made sense.

The good news that stands out over all of uninspiring news above is that Gold Glove second baseman Darwin Barney makes his return off of the DL today and will be in the line up against the Rangers. I had talked about the survivor battle going on between Alberto Gonzalez and Brent Lillibridge last week leading up to Barney’s expected return. After Gonzalez’s solid performance against the champion Giants over the weekend, combined with Lillibridge’s continued ineffectiveness, Gonzalez has been named the winner despite Lillibridge’s defensive flexibility. I am sure Cubs fans and Cubbies Crib readers have no issues with Lillibridge being the one kicked off of the island after witnessing an .042 batting average, .042 OBP, nine strikeout stat line over 24 at bats.

Lillibridge being designated for assignment was not, however, forced by the return of Barney. The most recent transaction of the afternoon was brought to the media by GM Jed Hoyer and he has announced that the Cubs have claimed Cody Ransom off of waivers. Ransom solves the depth issue at third base that Lillibridge provided over Gonzalez, but if you can believe it, the Cubs have found an infielder that is hitting worse than Lillibridge this season. Ransom was cut by the Padres after going 0 for 11 with five strikeouts in his limited action to start the season. However Ransom does provide some pop that he displayed as recently as last season between the Diamondbacks and Brewers, collecting 11 home runs with a .220 BA and .312 OBP over 90 games.

Even if Ransom does not pan out, he may simply just be keeping the hot corner seat warm for Ian Stewart. The Cubs Twitter friendly third baseman announced that he is about a week to 10 days away from returning and the Cubs confirmed this by sending the former Rockie on a rehab assignment to Iowa on Sunday. Stewart will begin catching up on the at bats he missed in Spring Training there with an eye towards meeting his return time frame goal.

None of the above suddenly makes the Cubs playoff contenders, obviously, but the shuffling of the deck does provide the Cubs an opportunity to try to keep the team afloat and fill their existing holes due to injury.

Unfortunately for the Cubs starter, his offense could not crack Bumgarner early in the game. The biggest regret came in the bottom of the second with runners on second and third no outs, only for Welington Castillo and Brent Lillibridge to strike out in front of Samardzija’s ninth spot in the order. This was after Alfonso Soriano singled and Scott Hairston got hit by a pitch, with both being accomplices on a double steal during Castillo’s at bat.

Apr 12, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher Dioner Navarro (30) rounds the bases after a home run during the ninth inning at Wrigley Field. The Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-3. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

With two outs in the  bottom of the seventh, an unlikely duo got the Cubs right back in the game. Light hitting Alberto Gonzalez punched a single to right and was along for the ride on Dioner Navarro’s pinch hit homer to left center. The back up catcher, of course, was one of the heroes yesterday, providing a pinch hit long ball to tie the game. This one came from the right side of the plate and the rotund catcher now has two career pinch hit home runs in back to back games after going nine seasons in his career without a pinch hit bomb.

Infield cornerstones Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo set the table in the bottom of the eight with a single and walk respectively, but Castillo grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end that threat. There would be no repeat of ninth inning heroics from the Cubs this afternoon and the home team fell to the World Series champs 3-2.

The kicker is that the winning run came in the form of pitcher Bumgarner, who should have been thrown out at home had right fielder Hairston made just an accurate throw to home. Instead his wild throw ended up behind the mound to shortstop Castro with no play to be made.

The Cubs now face the task of evening up the series Sunday against Tim Lincecum.