Chicago Cubs: Grimm, Szczur return to Cubs; Lake optioned to Iowa

Cubs make slew of roster moves on Wednesday

It’s been a busy day for the Chicago Cubs roster on Wednesday. Blink and you might not recognize the team on the field. Okay, that’s a little dramatic. But some may have tuned in yesterday to be confused that

was back. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are going to keep doing all they can to find

some answers on this roster. In total, there were four roster moves made today.

Justin Grimm was activated from the DL, and not a second too soon. It was about the time that he and Neil Ramirez went down that the inconsistencies in the bullpen started. His ability to eat up multiple innings in the middle relief role will be a huge help although the starters are going to have to go deeper into games here soon. Giving five and making the pen go four is a recipe for disaster.

Matt Szczur makes his return with the loss of Chris Denorfia to the DL. Junior Lake played well in his time up, but Maddon has been impressed with Szczur from the start as he’ll likely platoon with “hard luck” Chris Coghlan. The numbers don’t look great for Coghlan, but he’s actually hit the ball hard the last two weeks, he just has nothing to show for it.

Lake will head back to Iowa to get more regular at-bats, but he definitely appears to have made improvements a the plate since his last stint. It’s highly likely we’re going to see him again at some point in this season.

Anthony Varvaro, who’s been a Cub for all of five minutes, was designated for assignment after being in St. Louis on the roster yesterday, but not entering the game. Varvaro was out of options, and the Cubs were handcuffed on what to do with him. The Cubs are likely hoping he can clear waivers and be assigned to Iowa.

Grimm and Szczur will both be available tonight in St. Louis, as Szczur was actually already in town as part of the “taxi” squad.