Reports: Tommy La Stella Will Be Optioned to AAA Upon Activation from Bereavement List

It was initially thought that Tommy La Stella would be activated from the bereavement list Friday, but that has been pushed back a day. The corresponding move, as reported by various Cubs beat writers Friday afternoon, will be to option La Stella to AAA Iowa.

Though the early reports were couched with qualifiers like “signs point to” and “expected,” it’s been more or less a foregone conclusion that TLS would have to head to Iowa at some point. As Jesse Rogers put it, La Stella “will be optioned…unless there is a need for him on the big league roster.” So barring any further DL stints or trips to the bereavement list (Carl Edwards Jr. and Justin Grimm have both been  on it in the last couple weeks), it looks like this is happening.

Rogers later responded emphatically to a Silvy tweet about the “will Tommy La Stella report to triple-A game,” indicating that the move will indeed go as planned.

I have it on good authority he will !

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) April 21, 2017

By which, I’m assuming Rogers asked the man himself. Last year’s business seems to be water that will flow even farther under the bridge — is that a thing? — with an uneventful roster move, and I have no reason to believe we’ll get a redux of the AWOL episode.  I don’t want to assume too much here, but La Stella’s little walkabout, and the events that followed his subsequent return, appears to have cleared out any of the psychological and emotional issues he had been experiencing.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the infielder fits in at Iowa, though, what with their wealth of talent. Between Chesny Young, Ian Happ, Jeimer Candelario, and Stephen Bruno, there’s not a whole lot of room left over.