Willson Contreras is back with the big league team on the very first day he was eligible to be activated from the Injured List, which you would think is the big news in this post. But there’s bigger news.
The spot Contreras is taking is that of Addison Russell, who has been optioned back to Iowa.
Given Russell’s repeated mistakes and inexcusable preparation/focus issues – Joe Maddon seemed to be throwing up his hands yesterday – it is VERY reasonable for the Cubs to send Russell back down to work out whatever those issues are. His playing time at second base was curtailing quickly in any case, and it’s not as if being up with the big league team was helping the Cubs win right now, or building up his trade value.
So, down Russell goes, perhaps to be sent out in a dump trade in the coming week. If not, he’ll sort things out as best as possible at Iowa over the next month, and then likely return to the big league team in September.
The Cubs will continue to search for bats to add to their current bench mix (believe it or not, Russell was one of the more successful bats on the bench), and Robel Garcia will take more starts at second base.