Cubs roster move: Nico Hoerner activated from injured list, Sergio Alcántara optioned

On May 25 in Pittsburgh, Nico Hoerner suffered a hamstring injury on this play [VIDEO].

That’s a nasty-looking injury and it has now caused Nico to miss 35 games.

After several games on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Iowa, Hoerner was activated from the injured list for Sunday’s game against the Reds. To make room for Hoerner on the 26-man active roster, Sergio Alcántara was optioned to Iowa.

I don’t want to say that having Nico out has caused the Cubs’ recent slide. There are many other reasons. But I have to think that they’d have had a better record than 17-18 with him in the lineup for those 35 games.

Alcántara started out hot for the Cubs when first recalled, but eventually got exposed from too much time in the starting lineup. Overall he hit .179/.282/.403 (12-for-67) with 24 strikeouts. Apart from the unexpected power (three doubles, three triples, two home runs among the 12 hits), you can see why the Tigers gave up on him. He’s only 24 and has some potential and might make a nice bench player in a year or two.

Welcome back, Nico — the team definitely missed you. Whether this results in wins or not remains to be seen.