CHICAGO — In a shocking post-MLB trade deadline move, the Cubs designated veteran closer Ryan Pressly for assignment Thursday night, just after acquiring veteran left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cubs also transferred catcher Miguel Amaya to the 60-day IL to make room for utilityman Willi Castro, whom they acquired from the Minnesota Twins, on their 40-man roster. Amaya hasn’t played since May 24 because of an oblique injury.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer clearly wanted to address a bullpen that, while a strength for most of this season, started to flounder in the summer heat. The unit’s 6.00 ERA in July ranks third-worst in Major League Baseball, so the Cubs added Rogers one day after trading for another former All-Star reliever, Andrew Kittredge, from the Baltimore Orioles.

That made Pressly the odd man out.

“It’s disappointing,” Hoyer said in his post-trade deadline press conference. “He worked his hardest and did his best, and ultimately, he had some really long stretches of pitching well for us.

“By definition, we DFA’d him and felt like we could make an upgrade there. … Our focus is making sure our roster of 26 guys is as deep as it can be.” 

To that point, Rogers and Kittredge should strengthen the back end of Chicago’s bullpen, which also features young closer Daniel Palencia and veteran setup men Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar. Ryan Brasier, Drew Pomeranz, Gavin Hollowell and Brooks Kriske round out the unit right now.

The Cubs acquired Pressly from the Houston Astros in the offseason to be their closer, but he quickly lost the role while battling a knee injury and inconsistency on the mound. He rebounded to record 24 scoreless outings in 25 appearances. Still, lately, he regressed, allowing runs in four of his last five outings, including a grand slam in Tuesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, who lead the Cubs by one game in the NL Central.

Pressly, 36, went 2-3 with a 4.35 ERA and five saves in seven chances in 44 games for Chicago. He struck out just 28 in 41.1 innings, walked 17 and allowed a career-high .288 batting average against.

DFAing Pressly was the next phase of the Cubs’ bullpen remodel, as they also DFA’d veteran swingman Chris Flexen earlier this week and opted to send Porter Hodge to Triple-A Iowa after activating him from the IL on Wednesday.