Cubs activate Dansby Swanson, make surprising corresponding roster move

Dansby Swanson is back! The Chicago Cubs activated the veteran shortstop ahead of Friday night's series opener in Cincinnati, adding a key piece of their defensive puzzle to the mix for the final week-plus of regular season action.

Swanson last appeared in a game on Aug. 16 - a contest he left due to an oblique injury that wound up costing him just about a month of time. His return will give the Cubs a full-strength position player group and will allow Nico Hoerner to slide back over to second, bolstering the right side of the Chicago infield.

BJ Murray optioned to Iowa as Cubs activate Dansby Swanson from IL

In a corresponding move, the Cubs optioned BJ Murray to Triple-A Iowa - a move that comes as somewhat of a surprise given they could have dumped Gabriel Arias, but they clearly like having the latter's defensive skills on the bench. Unlike Murray, Arias has no minor-league options remaining, so the Cubs would have risked losing him if that was the call.

Swanson is in the Cubs' starting lineup, batting eighth and playing shortstop behind right-hander Clay Holmes. In the two weeks prior to his injury, Swanson was pushing an .800 OPS, one of the high points for him offensively after an erratic up-and-down 2026 campaign at the plate. On the whole, he's at 3.4 fWAR for the year and is just a tick below league-average (96 wRC+), but there's no doubt the Cubs are a better team with him than without him.

Jed Hoyer built this team around defense - and this has been a historically good team with the leather. I'll be interested to see if the bullpen bounces back with Swanson back - because their going to pieces almost perfectly aligns with his hitting the injured list last month. Boy, wouldn't that be something? He returns and, just like that, things start falling into place in the late innings?

I doubt that's what'll happen, but it's great to see Dansby back in action - and he'll have a little over a week to settle in before the NL Wild Card series kicks off, another plus for Craig Counsell's ball club.

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