Opening Day Roster Finalized
The opening day roster has been set by Joe Maddon. Javier Baez will start the season on the injured reserve list and Matt Szczur will make the team’s roster in lieu of Baez. The roster is exactly what we expected to see when we discussed it yesterday, with the only real unknown being whether Javy would start on the IR or not.
The move to put Baez on the IR will be done retroactively, so he could be back on the roster as soon as April 11th. When that happens, the Cubs will have to decide who to send down between Tommy La Stella and Matt Szczur. Matt is out of options so if he gets sent down to the minors he’ll have to clear waivers first, which is unlikely since another team is almost certain to grab him if he becomes available. Tommy can be sent down and still has options remaining.
Here’s a look at the final roster:
Starters
C: Miguel Montero
1B: Anthony Rizzo
2B: Ben Zobrist
SS: Addison Russell
3B: Kris Bryant
LF: Kyle Schwarber
CF: Dexter Fowler
RF: Jason Heyward
Bench
Matt Szczur
Tommy La Stella
David Ross
Jorge Soler
Starting Rotation
Jake Arrieta
Jon Lester
John Lackey
Jason Hammel
Kyle Hendricks
Bullpen
Trevor Cahill
Adam Warren
Neil Ramirez
Clayton Richard
Travis Wood
Justin Grimm
Pedro Strop
Hector Rondon