This is quite the rarity for a National League Club.
The Cubs are carrying only three outfielders (Coghlan, Fowler and Soler).
Why?
Because the Cubs are carrying 13 pitchers!
With three catchers still on the roster, that leaves only a bench of one utility infielder (Herrerra).
Travis Wood has had three lackluster starts, and was put into an emergency save situation during the home stand when Joe Maddon ran out of players. Now, the front office has given him a merry-go-round bullpen with call-ups and options to Iowa.
Tsuyoshi Wada will take Wood's place in the rotation. Wood will take the long reliever role that Edwin Jackson had once assumed, which presumed that Jackson will move down the line toward 7th inning chores. James Russell is back to be the lefty specialist. Zac Rosscup is holding a spot until Neil Ramirez returns from the DL.
The imbalance in the roster is foreboding if any position player goes down.
It is never good to have players playing out of position, especially in an emergency. Kris Bryant played an inning in center field because he was uncomfortable in left field. Wellington Castillo could play an emergency first base (we think). Suddenly, Herrera becomes the most important Everyman on the team.
With David Ross Jon Lester's personal catcher, and Castillo playing well off the bench, the Cubs will keep three catchers to the trade deadline. Ross is like another bench coach so his job is secure. The Cubs don't want to give away Castillo in a trade so it is possible he will remain as the power bat off the bench.
The Cubs are carrying two extra pitchers because Maddon likes to use a lot of pitchers during a game once a starter leaves. This may put more strain on a bullpen.
We should see this shake out in the next week.
UPDATE:
I have been blamed for pushing Beef out the door, as this morning the Cubs traded Castillo to the Mariners for reliever Yoervis Medina. The Mariners were looking for a back up catcher, and the Cubs are trying to find and stash as many bullpen arms it can find.
MLBTR stated that Medina seemingly represents "a buy-low
arm" of the sort that the Cubs have targeted in recent years. Medina, 26, has struggled with just 6.8 K/9
against 5.3 BB/9 this year — the walks are nothing new, though he had
struck out better than nine hitters per nine innings in prior years — he
still owns a 3.00 ERA in his 12 innings of work. And Medina has
compiled 125 innings of 2.81 ERA pitching over the prior two seasons.
Medina has shown significant velocity loss this year,
dropping from last year’s 94-95 mph range down to 92.4 mph with both
his four-seamer and two-seamer thus far in 2015. In addition to a
quality sinker, which he went away from this year, Medina also features a
rather promising curve ball.
Since Medina has only 2 years of ML service, the Cubs can send him to Iowa.
