Cubs Swap Edwards, La Stella on Bereavement List

We — and by “we,” I mean Jon Strong — had speculated a few days ago that the activation of Brian Duensing, which coincided with Carl Edwards Jr.’s placement on the bereavement list, might spur the Cubs to make a move with Tommy La Stella. Well, we — Jon — were right. Sort of.

La Stella was indeed part of a transaction today, though it was simply of matter of being added to the same bereavement list Edwards was just activated from. The timing of this swap is uncanny enough to raise an eyebrow or two, but I’m sure it’s legit. So no jokes about La Stella’s Cubs future dying a little with each Ian Happ home run.

Not only do the two players serve totally different roles, but the joke isn’t even funny. Well, okay, it’s a little funny. To me. Because I’m an awful person with a worse sense of humor.

When you get down to it, this is little more than a procedural version of kicking the can down the road, buying a few more days to see what the organization can do for a more permanent fix. Or maybe we’ll just see a series of injuries and other deactivation-worthy events between now and September expansion.