Owen Caissie Being Optioned for Kevin Alcántara

We’ve already made some educated “guesses” at this a few different times, so this will be very short. Jesse Rogers tweeted Sunday afternoon that Owen Caissie will be optioned to make room on the active roster for Kevin Alcántara, who will be activated Monday when rosters expand. Caissie has only gotten eight plate appearances in the last 10 games, so this gives him a chance to see regular playing time over the last three weeks of Iowa’s season.

It’s also a way for the Cubs to preserve Caissie’s rookie status. In order to no longer be considered a rookie, a player must accumulate 130 at-bats or be on the active MLB roster for 45 days. Based on his activation on August 14, Caissie would have reached the latter mark a day before the end of the regular season. This way, the Cubs can still take advantage of prospect promotion incentives should he earn a full year of service time and finish high enough in any of the major year-end awards next season.

Alcántara is likely to serve in the same capacity as Caissie, which is to say he’ll saddle up the pine pony. That’s particularly true with veteran first baseman Carlos Santana joining the club. Even if Alcántara is up the whole month, he will still maintain his rookie status as well.