More Cubs Roster Moves: Velasquez Selected, Thielbar to IL, Kingery DFAd

The Cubs had already gotten a few roster moves in earlier, one of which was to option Scott Kingery to Triple-A, but they needed to make more with Caleb Thielbar going on the 15-day IL. The lefty reliever came up limping after his ninth pitch on Thursday, and he’ll be on the shelf with a left hamstring strain. Given the lack of healthy relievers remaining on the 40-man roster, they have selected the contract of Vince Velasquez.

In order to make room on the active roster, they had to designate Kingery for assignment. The 33-year-old Velasquez joined the team on a minor league deal in February after spending much of the 2025 season posting an 8.23 ERA in Korea. He has a career 4.88 ERA over parts of nine MLB seasons and figures to be a stopgap while the Cubs await fresh arms.

Luke Little was just sent back to Iowa and could have come back early, but this may have been about matchups and readiness. Jordan Wicks recently made a rehab start for the I-Cubs and could be ready to return somewhat soon. At this point, it’s just a matter of rounding up the closest warm body with a live arm. And in some cases, even the liveliness of the arm might not matter.