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Anthony Rizzo hasn’t played since last Thursday, April 5 in Milwaukee due to a back problem that first flared up in Cincinnati early last week.
Now, he’s going to miss a few more games:
Rizzo expected to go on DL, backdated to Friday. He would be eligible to open series vs. Cards Monday.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) April 9, 2018
No official statement has been made by the Cubs yet, but it’s expected to be announced Tuesday, at which time a corresponding roster move will be made.
The Cubs have just two position players on the 40-man roster who aren’t currently on the 25-man active roster: David Bote and Mark Zagunis. It seems unlikely either of those men would be called up from Triple-A Iowa, as they play positions (infield for Bote, outfield for Zagunis) that don’t really need any help at the major-league level.
The 40-man roster currently stands at 38 players. Thus the Cubs could conceivably add Chris Gimenez to the 40-man and call him up. In that case I’d expect Victor Caratini to play first base in Rizzo’s absence. That would, however, require Gimenez to clear waivers if the Cubs want to send him back down.
In short, it’ll be interesting to see who the Cubs replace Rizzo with.
Rizzo is off to a slow start this year, hitting .107 (3-for-28) with one home run.