The Cubs roster shuffle continued Wednesday afternoon. The Cubs made four roster moves and in the process trimmed the 40-man roster to 39 players.
RHP Justin Grimm was activated from the 15-day DL. To make room on the active roster for Grimm the Cubs designated RHP Anthony Varvaro for assignment.
The Cubs recalled OF Matt Szczur from Triple-A Iowa and optioned OF/INF Junior Lake to Triple-A Iowa.
The Cubs 25-man roster currently consists of 13 pitchers, 12 position players. And the 40-man stands at 39 players.
Both Justin Grimm and Matt Szczur will be available for the Cubs Wednesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Justin Grimm, 26, returns to the Cubs after landing on the disabled list on April 10 with right forearm inflammation. He made one rehab appearance as part of his return, tossing a scoreless inning with a walk and two strikeouts on Monday for Iowa at Nashville. Grimm made Chicago’s Opening Day roster for the second season in a row but has yet to make his 2015 debut.
The right-hander went 5-2 with 11 holds and a 3.78 ERA (29 earned runs in 69 innings) with a 1.25 WHIP in 73 relief appearances last year with the Cubs, his first full season in the majors. Grimm tied for ninth in the National League in appearances while striking out 70 batters and walking only 27 in 69 innings. Overall, Grimm stranded 25 of 30 inherited runners last year and posted a 2.60 ERA (8 ER/27.2 IP) with a 0.94 WHIP in 29 games following the All-Star break.
Grimm joined the Cubs as part of the five-player deal that sent pitcher Matt Garza to the Texas Rangers on July 22, 2013. He was the American League Rookie of the Month with Texas in April, 2013 and posted a 2.00 ERA (two earned runs in nine innings) in 10 relief appearances with the Cubs following the trade that summer.
Matt Szczur, 25, joins the Cubs for the second time this season, as he was a member of Chicago’s Opening Day roster and batted .200 (2-for-10) with one double and one RBI in eight games before being optioned to Iowa on April 19. With Iowa, Szczur has batted .262 (11-for-42) with two homers, a triple and seven RBI in 11 games this season.
The outfielder made his Major League debut with the Cubs last August and batted .226 (14-for-62) with two doubles, two home runs and five RBI in 33 games. Szczur has played 14 games in left field, nine games in center field and 13 games in right field during his big league career. Overall, he has batted .222 (16-for-72) with three doubles, two home runs and six RBI in 41 career major league games.
Junior Lake, 25, is hitting .286 (4-for-14) with one double and one RBI in four games with the Cubs this season. He is batting .289 (13-for-45) with two doubles and eight RBI in 13 games with Iowa this year.
Anthony Varvaro, 30, was claimed off waivers from Boston on Sunday, was added to the 25-man roster Tuesday and did not appear in the game. He was traded to the Red Sox last December 17 and went 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA (5 ER/11.0 IP) in nine relief appearances this season before being designated for assignment on April 29.