The Current Roster

By Jason Wojciechowski on January 31, 2015 at 5:24 PM

This gives my current sense, as of the date above, with prior versions archived below, of my understanding of the current roster: who fits where, what the lineups are, etc. etc. (In the offseason, this is more guesswork than empirical.)

Starters

Position v. LHP v. RHP
C Josh Phegley Stephen Vogt
1B Mark Canha Ike Davis
2B Ben Zobrist Eric Sogard
SS Marcus Semien Ben Zobrist
3B Brett Lawrie Brett Lawrie
LF Craig Gentry Sam Fuld
CF Coco Crisp Coco Crisp
RF Josh Reddick Josh Reddick
DH Billy Butler Billy Butler

Notes

  • Butler could get time at first base in order to clear DH for Crisp, particularly against lefties, because Canha can shift to left field and Gentry to center, leaving the batting order unchanged
  • It's harder to make that work against righties, however, because Davis isn't going to play outfield, but you could see, in that situation, Semien starting at shortstop, Zobrist in left, and Fuld shifting to center, on the assumption that you'd rather have Semien against a righty than Gentry, which is probably a fair assumption

Starting rotation

Mythical slot Pitcher
1 Sonny Gray
2 Scott Kazmir
3 Jesse Hahn
4 Jesse Chavez
5 Drew Pomeranz

Relief

Player Role
Tyler Clippard Closer
Ryan Cook Eighth inning
Eric O'Flaherty Seventh inning
Dan Otero Middle / groundball specialist
R.J. Alvarez Middle
Fernando Abad Middle / lefty specialist?
Evan Scribner Long

15-day disabled list

Player Position Date of return Effect of return
Sean Doolittle RP May 2015? Everyone in the bullpen down a slot; R.J. Alvarez to Triple-A
A.J. Griffin SP June 2015? Drew Pomeranz to Triple-A
Jarrod Parker SP June 2015? Jesse Chavez to bullpen; DFA Evan Scribner

Minor leagues

Player Position Role
Kendall Graveman SP Sixth starter
Sean Nolin SP Seventh starter
Chris Bassitt SP Eighth starter
Arnold Leon SP Ninth starter
Raul Alcantara SP July 2015 return from Tommy John?
Eury de la Rosa RP Eighth bullpen man
Taylor Thompson RP Ninth bullpen man
Nate Freiman 1B MLBer if Canha doesn't hit
Rangel Ravelo 1B Prospect
Renato Nunez 3B Prospect
Tyler Ladendorf UT First line of injury defense for Semien, Sogard, Zobrist, Lawrie
Billy Burns CF Backup OF when Crisp gets hurt