Cubs close the loop on bizarre Hoby Milner roster saga with quiet update

It has been an eventful weekend for Hoby Milner's roster status with the Chicago Cubs. There were premature reports on Friday that the Cubs had designated the veteran reliever for assignment, only for the report to quickly be refuted by Craig Counsell. Milner was ultimately placed on outright waivers before officially being DFA, and the loop on his status has finally been closed.

Updating their transaction log on Sunday, the Cubs have released Milner. In theory, Milner could now return to the Cubs on a minor-league deal, but with how often his quirky delivery leads to success in the majors, chances are on he was latch onto a major-league roster spot elsewhere.

The Cubs ending Milner's tenure abruptly is the reality of the roster crunch they are facing. Even with rosters expanding this week, the Cubs will still need to clear space on the 40-man roster for the potential returns of Shelby Miller and Justin Steele. Jaxon Wiggins, who is quickly emerging a September call-up option with his success as a reliever with the Iowa Cubs, is not currently on the 40-man roster.

Hoby Milner's release is reality of Cubs facing roster crunch as September call-ups loom

In terms of creating openings on the 40-man roster, there are two clear DFA candidates that remain in the bullpen.

The obvious candidate is Caleb Thielbar. Admittedly, it's surprising that the Cubs chose to keep Thielbar over the potential return of Milner. But, it's hard seeing how Thielbar survives the roster crunch, assuming there's no further setback among the pitchers the Cubs are expecting to be back before October. What's kept Thielbar around is the fact that he's missing bats, striking out 29% of the hitter he's faced, but he spots an ERA of 4.97 through 49 appearances and is giving up 2.16 home runs per nine innings pitched. That's not a pitcher that Craig Counsell can trust in role of consequence during the playoffs.

Trent Thornton is the other candidate. He's this year's Chris Flexen. He's had stretches where he's been a surprising high-leverage option for the bullpen, but the underlying metrics continue to be a terrifying sight. Eventually, regression is going to settle in and not the success Thornton previously had this season won't return.

One thing is clear, the Milner release is an example that the Cubs won't take feelings into account for the decisions they are yet to make. Milner was a personal favorite of Counsell, but that does little for a team angling toward the playoffs.

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