Week Three was very busy for the Chicago Cubs as it completed many transactions to its 40-man roster. It started with designating Brent Lillibridge and Hisanori Takahashi for assignment. When a player designated for assignment is removed from his club’s 40-man roster they have three options within the next 10 days: They have to be traded, released or, if they clear waivers, they are assigned to the minor leagues. Lillibridge and Takahashi cleared waivers and were assigned to the minor leagues. In corresponding moves, Kevin Gregg was signed to a minor league deal and placed on the 40-man roster. Gregg has a history with Chicago, pitching with the Cubs in 2009; then, he had an earned run average of 4.52 and saved 23 games with a 5-6 record as the closer. Gregg will be another late-inning reliever for the Cubs as Kyuji Fujikawa is recovering from a shoulder strain. Gregg has an average arsenal, sinker-slider-split, and other than occasionally running the fastball up to 94, doesn’t have a plus pitch. His control is below average and he is very susceptible to giving up the long ball.

The Cubs signed Kameron Loe, the former Mariner, after he was released this season after recording a 1-1 record with a 10.80 earned run average in a very small sample size of four games. Loe provides the Cubs with a sinkerballer who is very good at getting ground-ball outs and helps with getting a ground-ball double play. Loe will take the place of Rafael Dolis in the bullpen; he was sent back to Triple A Iowa to complete the roster move. Dolis only pitched 1/3 inning and wasn’t used very often this season. This move helps Dolis by giving him more chances at Iowa to stay fresh and improve on his velocity to earn a late callup in September.

It was another disappointing week for the Cubs as it started with a split in a rain shortened series during the middle of week against the Texas Rangers. The Cubs had played their first complete performance in their 6-2 win on Thursday and it seemed that things were looking up for the club. Although, the weekend was a complete disaster by being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers and the defense committed six errors in three games. The starting pitching was once again decent, but the errors overshadowed the weekend games results as Scott Feldman, Edwin Jackson and Jeff Samardzija all ended up with losses. The Cubs finished a disappointing 1-4 week and head to Cincinnati on Monday for a three-game series and then to Miami to finish a 10-game road trip Thursday through Sunday.