Transactions Loom as Xavier Cedeño’s Rehab Stint Ends

There’s nothing showing on the official transactions page as of post time, but lefty reliever Xavier Cedeño has completed his rehab stint and is no longer on the Iowa Cubs’ roster. Cedeño started the season on the 10-day IL with wrist inflammation and appeared in five games for the Cubs in mid-May before heading back to the IL with the same issue.

Xavier Cedeno's rehab stint with the @IowaCubs has come to an end. #Cubs

— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) July 18, 2019

He was sent to Iowa for a rehab assignment on June 9 and appeared in four games before being shut down again. Cedeño then rehabbed briefly in Mesa and returned to Iowa on July 11 for another three appearances (2.1 IP), over which he allowed three earned runs on three hits and four walks.

All we know for certain at this point is that the southpaw is no longer on Iowa’s roster, but the Cubs could choose to either activate him or designate him for assignment. The former route would likely see Randy Rosario optioned back to Triple-A, though Cedeño doesn’t necessarily offer a marked improvement there based on this season’s results.

Ed. note: Rosario was indeed optioned to Iowa, though no official move was made with Cedeño as of 9:52pm CT Thursday night.

The Cubs may still want to see if he can recapture last season’s form, which led the 32-year-old to a 2.43 ERA over 48 relief appearances. If, however, they believe he still needs more time to recover from the wrist issues, they may simply designate him and try to bring him back on a minor-league deal. With the deadline looming and lefty relievers on their radar, that might be the better bet.

As we await further word on that, the Cubs did make a move to release catcher Francisco Arcia, who had slashed .181/.224/.213 in 51 games with Iowa.