Today, the Chicago Cubs officially added Javier Baez to the 25 and 40-man rosters. The latter was at 39, so no corresponding move was required.
On the 25-man, however, Baez will replace up-and-down reliever Blake Parker, who has been optioned to AAA Iowa. It’s what he does.
Although multiple reports have Kyuji Fujikawa with the Cubs in Denver, he was not activated for today’s game.
To add Fujikawa, whose rehab stint is basically up, the Cubs will have to open up not only a 25-man roster spot, but also a 40-man roster spot. They were at 39 before adding Baez, and Fujikawa is on the 60-day disabled list. Thus, activating him requires a 40-man spot, and the Cubs are apparently going to defer that decision for at least one day.
We’ll see what happens, but you can figure it will be a positional player getting the boot, and most likely an outfielder. Your candidates there are most likely Junior Lake and Nate Schierholtz, with the latter’s time possibly being up. DFA’ing Schierholtz would at least buy the Cubs a little time to see what was out there for him.