Cubs Finalize Roster: La Stella and Szczur Both Make Cut, Duensing to DL

Well, so much for my predictions. With five days off in April, three in their first eight games, the Cubs didn’t see a need to carry 13 arms. Add that they’ve not been able to garner an acceptable return for Matt Szczur and you’ve got your final roster.

After pitching two relatively effective innings Tuesday, Brian Duensing has been placed on the DL with back spasms, according to Theo Epstein. MLB frowns on using the DL as a stash for roster-crunch purposes, but this sorta feels like that. But I’m sure the lefty has legit issues.

Carlos Corporan was assigned to minor league camp to officially trim the total to 25.

Don’t think this is the last we’ll be talking about the 25-man, though. The Cubs will no doubt continue to listen to offers for Szczur and they’re going to need an additional arm at some point. If a deal doesn’t materialize, they could always leverage La Stella’s option to shuttle him back and forth.

This is probably the best possible outcome, even if it does prove me wrong.