Cubs roster move: Brandon Hughes activated from injured list, Nelson Velázquez optioned

Before Saturday’s game, the Cubs announced that they had activated lefthanded reliever Brandon Hughes from the injured list and optioned Nelson Velázquez to Triple-A Iowa.

Hughes had some minor knee inflammation during Spring Training and appeared in just four games during camp with a 6.75 ERA. He also made three appearances for Iowa, which did not go well (numbers here). It’s all about the process, right?

It will help to have a lefty in the bullpen for matchups, though the Cubs have sort of been using Mark Leiter Jr. in that role, since he has pretty good reverse splits.

Velázquez appeared in two games for the Cubs this past week, and had perhaps his best MLB game in one of them, going 3-for-4 with a grand slam. With the return of Seiya Suzuki, Velázquez’ playing time was likely to be reduced, so sending him back to Iowa for now seems reasonable — though I would not be surprised if he’s back sometime soon, as Cody Bellinger will likely be heading to the paternity list shortly. “As always, we await developments.”