Between yesterday’s stuff about John Raynor and Brandon Moss, the earlier news this week that Jack Taschner is in line for a bullpen slot, and today’s story that mentions Tascher and Vinnie being in line for the last bullpen spot with Ramon Vazquez looking like a candidate to get into the framing business, there’s a really good chance that the team that takes the field against the Dodgers will look something like this:
- Andrew McCutchen, CF
- Akinori Iwamura, 2B
- Garrett Jones, RF
- Ryan Doumit, C
- Jeff Clement, 1B
- Lastings Milledge, LF
- Andy LaRoche, 3B
- Ronny Cedeno, SS
The rotation will probably proceed in an order something like this:
- Zach Duke
- Ross Ohlendorf
- Paul Maholm
- Charlie Morton
- Dan McCutchen
On the bench, it should be:
- Jason Jaramillo, C
- Delwyn Young, IF/OF
- Bobby Crosby, IF
- Ryan Church, OF
- John Raynor, OF
And in the bullpen:
- Octavio Dotel
- Evan Meek
- Brendan Donnelly
- Javier Lopez
- DJ Carrasco
- Jack Taschner
- Vinnie Chulk
For the Chulk/Taschner decision, I saw both pitch a couple of times when I was in Bradenton. Taschner was, to my surprise, pretty impressive in the way he changed speeds and kept guys off-balance, though he often worked late in games against other teams’ scrubs. Chulk didn’t pitch all that well, but he was one of the more interesting NRI guys coming in and he does have some good stuff, so I won’t be surprised or disappointed if he ends up on the roster.
From the guys listed above, Chulk will likely have to pitch his way into keeping a spot before Joel Hanrahan returns because Taschner’s a lefty. Raynor will be under constant pressure all year to perform or go back to Florida (I don’t think the team will hesitate to return him, despite the way they held on to Veal and Meek), especially if Moss passes through waivers (unlikely) or he struggles and Pearce starts hitting in Indy (much more likely). And Dan McCutchen will probably have one start to prove himself with the big club. Despite the current results of the WHYGAVS Poll, I think the team would like to see Hart in the rotation rather quickly and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have some success in Triple-A.
This is, admittedly, not the most intimidating Opening Day roster ever assembled. But at least it doesn’t have Vicente Padilla starting on Opening Day.
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