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Late Monday, the Cubs made a number of roster moves involving the Triple-A team at Iowa:
Today's Iowa Cubs Roster Moves:
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) June 25, 2018
INF Christian Donahue was reassigned to South Bend. RHP Shae Simmons was placed on waivers.
RHP James Norwood, RHP Craig Brooks and INF Jason Vosler were all promoted from Double-A Tennessee.
Of all those moves, the one we’re interested in here is Shae Simmons being placed on waivers.
According to both the Cubs transactions list and the Iowa transactions list, Simmons has already cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Iowa.
This opens up a 40-man roster spot. The 40-man had previously been full, and now it stands at 39 players.
Teams don’t usually make moves like this unless there’s a reason to need that 40-man roster spot. It could presage someone else from Iowa who’s not currently on the 40-man roster being recalled (Kyle Ryan? Dakota Mekkes?)
Or, it could be leaving an open 40-man spot for a trade. Haven’t heard any recent rumors and it seems somewhat early, five weeks to the trade deadline, for any deals.
But the Cubs now have an open 40-man spot available. Can’t imagine it’ll stay open too long. Stay tuned.