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Cubs Make Multiple Roster Moves Saturday; Sweeney, Arrieta, Coghlan, Rosscup

Injuries and activations required several Cubs changes before Saturday's game.

Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

If you were wondering what the Cubs would do to activate Jake Arrieta and replace Ryan Sweeney due to Friday's injury, here's the answer:

So, Zac Rosscup is the odd-man-out, for now, in a bullpen that will have to be shuffled again, I think. Rosscup did a decent job, but the Cubs weren't likely to keep three lefthanders in the pen. Right now they really have only one, because James Russell hasn't pitched in 10 days. I wonder if his days as a Cub are numbered.

This also means Carlos Villanueva goes back to the bullpen; it's a reset button for him, as he's been pretty awful so far this year. If he can pitch effectively for a while, he could be trade bait.

Chris Coghlan is added to both the 25-man and 40-man rosters; he wasn't doing particularly well at Triple-A Iowa, hitting .243/.379/.314 in 88 plate appearances with no home runs and six stolen bases. Coghlan hits lefthanded, as does Ryan Sweeney.

Eventually, the Cubs will have to trim back the eight-man bullpen; that's too many, in my view, and the short bench is going to wind up hurting them at some point. Brian Schlitter is another candidate to return to Iowa and I'd love to see Matt Szczur get a chance.