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Cubs Claim Julio Borbon From Rangers

The Cubs have a new center fielder. Other roster moves have yet to be announced.

By Al Yellon
Rob Tringali

Once again, a player transaction is first announced by the player himself:

And, confirmed by a national writer:

This could be a very good move for the Cubs. Borbon is young -- still just 27 -- and though he hasn't produced much offensively for the Rangers (career .283/.324/.358, career OPS+ 79), he does have good base-stealing ability (40 career steals in 53 attempts) and is recognized as a good defensive outfielder.

There has not yet been any official announcement from the Cubs of this move, nor who will be removed from the 25-man (or 40-man) roster to make room. Given Dave Sappelt's 1-for-19 start and the fact that Sappelt has options left, I'd expect him to be the one taken off the 25-man roster; Borbon is a center fielder and could move into a rotation there, although he hits lefthanded, same as David DeJesus.

The 40-man roster, now full, is a different story. I'll update this post when there's something official.

UPDATE:

This gives the Cubs very little infield flexibility; only Code Ransom remains as a backup infielder. So I'd expect more roster moves to come.

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