Things to keep an eye on in the early spring

Spring training games means regular weekend posts!

 The Pirates open up their exhibition schedule against the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon and much of their Opening Day roster is already set. The first four pitchers in the rotation will be James McDonald, Paul Maholm, Ross Ohlendorf, and Kevin Correia. The bullpen will have Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek, Chris Resop, Joe Beimel, Jose Veras, and Jeff Karstens. The starting lineup will include Chris Snyder, Lyle Overbay, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Ronny Cedeno, Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, and Garrett Jones and prominent bench positions will be held by Matt Diaz and Ryan Doumit. 

That’s already 20 players that have almost certainly made the 2011 club. That leaves five spots open; one in the rotation, one in the bullpen, and three for position players. I’ve already written about the pitchers earlier this week; it seems pretty likely that Charlie Morton and Scott Olsen are locks for those final two spots on the roster unless Brad Lincoln forces his way into the rotation or Aaron Thompson or Tony Watson do something spectacular to make themselves seem like great bullpen options. That, or Morton and/or Olsen pitch themselves off of the team, though I think they’d have to be pretty awful to pull that off. 

So what about the final three spots in the field? One probably depends on how Clint Hurdle wants to use Ryan Doumit. If Doumit is going to be pinch-hitting and seeing a decent amount of time in the field, Jason Jaramillo could end up on the roster as the emergency catcher. Steve Pearce could make the club as a four-corners utility guy since he bats right-handed and the club has lefties at third base, first base, and right field and only Matt Diaz to spell any of them, but he’s also got an option left after last year’s injury. Garrett Atkins could fill the same role as Pearce since he’s right-handed and can play third and first and has an in with Clint Hurdle after his time in Colorado, but there’s really no reason to think he’s very good at this point in his career. Andy Marte and Josh Fields could both fill this role as well, but they’re both super long-shots at this point and would have to destroy the ball all spring to pull the rug out from underneath Atkins and Pearce. 

There will also be a bit of a competition to see who backs up Cedeno and Walker. There’s Rule 5 guy Josh Rodriguez, but the Bucs also invited Corey Wimberly to camp and he could serve as a middle infield/outfield utility type. Pedro Ciriaco is also an option here, but I think he’d have to do something pretty wild to leapfrog Rodriguez, who can hit, and Wimberly, who can play in the outfield. The decision here will also probably be influenced by the decision with Jaramillo. If the Pirates keep Jaramillo on the roster, I’d guess they’ll go with Wimberly for the final spot since he can play outfield. If they don’t keep Jaramillo, there’s a good chance they’ll keep Rodriguez and then another outfielder (Alex Presley, perhaps, or maybe John Bowker) on the roster. 

Personally, I’d take Pearce over Atkins without even a second thought, though I’d be kind of surprised if the Pirates did. I want to see Rodriguez and Wimberly and Presley in action a bit this spring before making a call on any of them; I don’t know exactly what Rodriguez’s range in the field looks like, I have no idea what Wimberly is capable with his bat, and I want to see how Presley does a year removed from his ridiculous breakout season. If the decision were up to me, I’d keep two of those three (I think the Lyle Overbay signing makes Bowker superfluous, which means Bowker probably doesn’t have much of a chance to make the club) then to tote around Jaramillo and see Doumit play regularly in the field, but if the Pirates can’t trade Doumit I suspect that both he and Jaramillo will both make the trip north. 

Of course there are other scenarios to consider (the Bucs carry 13 pitchers for the early going instead of 12, Neal Huntington’s fascination with Tyler Yates inexplicably continues into a roster spot for Yates, Jose Ascanio or Kevin Hart are healthy enough and pitch well enough to merit consideration beyond starting the year on the DL, etc.), but I think these are probably the decisions the front office is dealing with in the next couple weeks.