While the Cubs are making additions at the trade deadline, there’s also the inevitable corresponding moves to clear room on the roster.

One such move is parting ways with veteran first baseman/DH Trey Mancini, as the team announced Tuesday afternoon that he was designated for assignment while Jeimer Candelario was officially added to the roster.

With the acquisition of Candelario, plus the play of Nick Madrigal and Patrick Wisdom, Jed Hoyer and the Cubs knew that plate appearances would become thin. Couple that with Mancini’s struggles — he hit just .234/.299/.336 (.635 OPS) in 79 games with 4 homers and 28 RBI. He has only 1 home run since April 26.

“It just felt like the right time,” Hoyer said. “He struggled with us. He probably wasn’t going to get many plate appearances going forward. It happens.”

The Cubs added Mancini, 31, on a 2-year, $14 million deal in the offseason. He was one of the top first basemen on the market and the assumption was he would be a big bat in the middle of the lineup after averaging 24 homers and 73 RBI per season over his career.

After starting the year hitting 4th and 5th in the Cubs order and playing every day, Mancini has been relegated to a part time role over the last couple months. He has mostly seen the field against left-handed starting pitchers and has often been replaced in-game.

Mancini is well-respected and seen as a positive influence in the clubhouse but his play on the field led to a team-worst -0.8 WAR (FanGraphs).

“Sometimes guys come in and play above the expectations,” Hoyer said. “And in this case, that didn’t happen. Wish him the best, but we just felt it was the right time given we’re gonna play hard for two months, and there wasn’t gonna be a lot of opportunities.”

With Candelario now in the fold, the Cubs have options at first base and DH between him and Bellinger (Wisdom can also play first base). Candelario, Wisdom and Madrigal can play third base while Christopher Morel has been seeing a decent share of time in the DH spot of late.