Brock Stassi and Daniel Nava Survive Final Cut, Opening Day Roster Set
Manager Pete Mackanin has made his final roster moves before Monday’s opening game against the Reds at the Great American Ballpark. The skipper’s cuts were fairly predictable, but as always there will be new faces heading into another year of Phillies baseball.
The bullpen will be set as predicted in my article from last week, as Luis Garcia was optioned to Triple-A in favor of Adam Morgan, Joely Rodriguez, and Edubray Ramos. The latter two provide the youth in an otherwise experienced bullpen. Thus, the relievers will be as follows:
Jeanmar Gomez
Hector Neris
Pat Neshek
Joaquin Benoit
Adam Morgan
Edubray Ramos
Joely Rodriguez
As Spring Training was coming to a close, there were two spots left to be had between three batters: Daniel Nava, Brock Stassi, and Jesmuel Valentin. After today’s cuts it will be 34-year-old Nava and the 27-year-old rookie Stassi sporting the major league uniform in Cincinnati. Brock was emotional in the locker room after making the team, as he was a 33rd round pick in 2011. The odds of him getting this far were slim to none.
The Philadelphia batters at the beginning of the season will be:
Cameron Rupp
Tommy Joseph
Cesar Hernandez
Freddy Galvis
Maikel Franco
Michael Saunders
Odubel Herrera
Howie Kendrick
Daniel Nava
Brock Stassi
Andres Blanco
Andrew Knapp
Aaron Altherr
As expected there were no waves made among the starting pitchers, and the rotation order is not yet set. However, the players within it are:
Jeremy Hellickson
Jerad Eickhoff
Vince Velasquez
Aaron Nola
Clay Buchholz
There you have it. The Phillies have set their 25-man roster for the beginning of the season, but it would be a good bet that this won’t be the roster in September (or even May, but that’s not important). After today there will be only three days until Monday’s opening game. It’s time to get excited for another year of Phillies baseball.
Photo by Golden Blades (via Flickr)
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Categorized:Phillies