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By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
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The countdown is officially on for opening day, and on Thursday, the Chicago Cubs furthered the process of cutting their roster down to its eventual 26 players.
Chicago optioned three players to Triple-A Iowa, according to the official transactions log and an official social media announcement, while reassigning four more to minor-league camp. One of those seven players, outfielder Justin Dean, happens to have won a World Series championship barely four months ago.
It was a strange offseason for Dean, the 29-year-old speedster who the Dodgers used as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner during their playoff run, then promptly waived at the end of the postseason. He was briefly claimed by the San Francisco Giants, but since mid-January, he's been preparing for a season as a member of the Cubs, one of the top projected challengers to the Dodgers for the National League pennant this year.
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Dean's major league experience has been almost completely devoid of at-bats. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a stolen base in 18 appearances during the regular season. In the playoffs, he got into 13 games but did not have a plate appearance. He stole another base and scored a run, which tied the game in the eventual series-clinching National League Division Series win over the Phillies.
Dean's most important highlight of the playoffs wasn't a spectacular catch or a crucial stolen base. It was his quick thinking when Addison Barger hit a line drive that wedged itself under the wall in the left-center gap in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series, keeping a run off the board that would have tightened the score.
Entering play on Friday, Dean had gone 4-for-27 in spring training with a .480 OPS. It certainly made sense that the Cubs wouldn't trust his all-around contributions enough to put him on the opening day roster.
But by late in the regular season, it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see Dean back in the mix in his Dodgers role from last season, fighting to knock Los Angeles off its pedestal this time around.
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