:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/11639825/88904171.0.jpg)
Here comes the roster Jenga:
#Cubs claim Cody Ransom. Gregg and Loe now in bullpen, Takahashi and Lillibridge both DFA'd
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) April 16, 2013
So, for those of you who didn't want to see Kevin Gregg back in a Cubs uniform, you don't get your wish. He won't be closing (most likely), but could hardly be worse than Hisanori Takahashi, whose spot in the bullpen was likely kept only because he was lefthanded. It leaves the Cubs with just one lefty in the pen, James Russell, and he's got to be the next choice for closer.
Kameron Loe had some decent years with the Brewers and a good spring for the Mariners, but Seattle let him go last week. That's a good pickup, in my opinion.
Cody Ransom, wow. None of us will likely miss Brent Lillibridge, but Ransom is 37 years old; the Cubs will be his eighth major-league team. Not tonight, though:
Ransom not available tonight but Gregg and Loe are. Jed said Ransom can give versatility. Lillibridge part of 'numbers crunch.'
— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) April 16, 2013
Ransom was in spring training with the Cubs in 2005 and spent part of that year with Triple-A Iowa. Now he'll play for the big-league Cubs, eight years after he was brought in to spring camp because he had played for then-manager Dusty Baker. He hit .220/.312/.411 in 246 at-bats combined in 2012 between the Diamondbacks and Brewers.
And, Darwin Barney returns to the roster tonight. By my count (since Barney is essentially replacing Steve Clevenger, who went to the 60-day DL), that leaves the Cubs with a 13-man pitching staff.