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Cubs Roster Moves: Jorge Soler Activated, Joe Nathan Designated For Assignment

It's been almost two months since the Cubs outfielder went on the disabled list.

By Al Yellon
Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

One thing that Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler has been throughout his professional career is injury-prone.

He missed more than 60 games last year with hamstring trouble, and a similar hamstring injury put him back on the DL June 7. He was hitting .223/.322/.377 with five home runs in 130 at-bats when he went on the DL, which sounds bad, but it had been even worse a few weeks earlier. Soler was hitting just .174/.263/.267 with two homers in 86 at-bats on May 14.

Then he was on a bit of a hot streak, .318/.434/.591 (14-for-44, three doubles, three homers) in 17 games between May 18 and June 6.

Hopefully he can pick up where he left off. Soler has been activated off the disabled list and he's in Friday's lineup at DH, batting sixth (the game preview will post at 7 p.m. CT). He might do the same another time this weekend, and then he can platoon with Chris Coghlan in left field, or give Jason Heyward an occasional break in right field.

To make room for Soler on the 25-man roster, Joe Nathan has been designated for assignment:

This is from a report made on ESPN Radio, not from Jesse Rogers on Twitter.

I suppose that with the acquisition of Joe Smith, Nathan's place on the roster was superfluous. It was good that he made it back from Tommy John surgery to the major leagues. Nathan made three appearances for the Cubs covering two innings. He allowed two hits and two walks and struck out four, and I'm guessing some other team will come calling. I wish Nathan well.

The Cubs will have to make another roster move when Jason Hammel returns from the bereavement list. He's already listed as the starter for Tuesday's game on the Cubs website, so a move will have to be made before that game at Wrigley against the Angels.

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