Camps are opening, and most teams have the majority of their Major League roster spots devoted to particular players. However, each team typically has a few roster spots up for grabs, typically in the back of the rotation, on the bench and in the back end of the bullpen. Here's a look at some of those teams and the players in the hunt for the jobs …
- The White Sox will probably start the season with a four-man rotation with Jake Peavy unlikely to be ready by Opening Day, writes Mark Gonzales of ChicagoBreakingSports.com. Chris Sale will return to the bullpen, where he pitched so effectively in 2010, and when the schedule no longer permits the Sox to get by with a four-man rotation, the likely fifth-starter candidates are Lucas Harrell, Philip Humber and Jeff Gray.
- The Indians have a handful of possibilities for their infield, writes Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. The best-case scenario entails Jason Donald at third, Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop and Orlando Cabrera at second, but veterans Jayson Nix, Luis Valbuena and Jack Hannahan, and prospects Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis, Cord Phelps and Jared Goedert are also in play.
- The Orioles have two rotation spots up for grabs, writes Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. Brad Bergesen, Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman, Rick VandenHurk, Zach Britton and non-roster invitee Ryan Drese are among the contenders. The final spot on the bench will probably be claimed by one of Jake Fox, Robert Andino, Nolan Reimold, Randy Winn, Brendan Harris and Nick Green.
- The Yankees, too, have two available spots in their starting rotation, writes Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. Among the contenders are veterans Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre, Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon, and prospects Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos and Andrew Brackman. The catching situation is tricky, with Russell Martin the favorite to start, but he is coming off an injury. Finally, the bench has seen a lot of turnover but will need to be strong for a veteran-heavy team.
- The Reds have only one available roster spot for position players, writes Jeremy P. Kelly of the Dayton Daily News, and Jeremy Hermida is the front-runner to win it. Two rotation spots will be divvied up among Travis Wood, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake, but Bailey is out of options, so he might have an edge for that reason. There are a handful of qualified bullpen hopefuls vying for two spots, Dontrelle Willis and Daniel Ray Herrera among them.
- The Giants have one bullpen spot open, with Guillermo Mota and Jeff Suppan the early favorites, writes Andrew Baggerly of the San Jose Mercury News. Prospect Brandon Belt, blocked by Aubrey Huff at first base, may not get his chance on Opening Day, according to Baggerly. Andres Torres and Cody Ross are likely starters in the outfield, with Pat Burrell, Nate Schierholtz, Aaron Rowand and Mark DeRosa battling for playing time, either with the Giants or "someone else," writes Baggerly.
Thats funny the Indians are gonna have both Jason Donald and Orlando Cabrera at third? And Asdrubal Cabrera at shortsotp?
Ya beat me to it.
Donald will likely play second and O. Carbrera third with A. Cabrera at SS.
Shortstop is misspelled in the Indians link, I’m not the grammar police, just looking out 🙂
What, your team doesn’t have a shortsotp? All the best teams have one these days.
Well they are the Indians
yankees don’t have one
Thanks, Kevin.
Jason Donald and Orlando Cabrera playing third base at the same time would be an awesome combo
I had no idea Ivan Nova was a veteran. My how time flies…
You didn’t know that 10 career starts makes you a veteran…
I still want Marquez to get the fifth starter spot while Peavy is away
Isn’t Marquez out of options? Potentially that could give him an advantage, although perhaps not a big one.
I don’t know if the Yankees called him up at all, if they didn’t he still had two.
This idea that Betances, Banuelos, or Brackman could break the Yankees’ rotation at the start of the season needs to be put to rest by writers at this site. It’s just not going to happen. The Yankees aren’t going to rush any of them to the Majors. None have any significant experience at AAA, which isn’t a big deal considering teams often skip players from AA to the Majors. Yet, none of the three have significant experience at AA either as only Brackman has spent a full season there.
Yeah, I didn’t understand why the writer posted that. Cashman already ruled out Banuelos and Betances and to a lesser extent, Brackman because of their lack of innings at AA and just overall for 2010. He DID say that Noesi, Phelps, Warren and Mitchell had a chance to crack the rotation though.
I’m thinking Bergesen and Arrieta have the last two rotation spots locked up barring injury or a horrendous spring
I agree. They are basically almost destined for the last 2 spots barring a significant injury or implosion
Does anyone here an echo in here???
If we’re talking about winning starting spots, I would say the Dodgers should have an interesting competion for Left (or Center if Gwynn wins).
Who is the current favorite to win left for the Dodgers?
Likely a platoon of Gibbons and Thames, but I could see Gwynn being the starting center fielder, and moving Kemp to right and Ethier to left, or Thames being the full time starter.
Ouch, no offense dude but I thought the Dodgers’ first base situation was bad. I think Mattingly is in for a rough start to his new career.
Oh believe me, I know. He really does. I think we should still be in contention though. The Giants and Rockies didn’t really improve, but I feel like we did at least a little (mostly in the rotation). Should be a good race to win the NL West I think.
Giants pitching will destroy the dodgers. Dodgers will be out by July. Giants did improve and they did win the WS. We will have posey, Lopez, Ross, burell and a healthy derosa all year long. The first 4 came in July and derosa was hurt. And we have a good chance of having belt play first.
I am aware that the Giants pitching is better than the Dodgers, but I don’t think the Giants will destroy the Dodgers pitching. Also how did the Giants improve? They didn’t pick up anybody new. Sure they’ll have those guys for a full season, but I think Posey’s the only one that will really do as much as you think. Ross only didn’t get non-tendered because of his post-season play, Burell won’t even be a full time starter, DeRosa, has been injured for a full year, so there aren’t any guarentees with him, and Lopez just had his best year and is only a lefty-specialist.
Dodgers have pretty good pitching, actually, I have to agree with D4L. Their bullpen is going to be stronger than people are giving them credit for. Lopez’s history is as a lefty specialist, true, but he did a lot more than that for the Giants last 2 months and playoffs. Hopefully he can continue. Point take though, Giants basically stood pat (and still bumped the payroll to $120 mil). Giants are hoping for about a half-dozen little to come through. (Belt, DeRosa, Huff to hold numbers, Tejada not to fall off too much, Torres to repeat, rotation to stay healthy, etc.) West should be fun 4-team race.
People always forget about Pablo. He lit the league up his first year and half, then had a league average year last year. The main concern was his weight, and if you have seen pictures, he looks pretty good. He has also been taking instruction from Bonds, who better to teach a player patience
Yeah, I was just watching a couple of Giants games from the ’10 playoffs, and Pablo was really, really a wide-body. I’ve seen those shots of him lately, and it’s not just that he’s dropped 20 or 25 lbs. He’s built some muscle where fat used to be. Good to hear he’s working on his hitting, patience etc. Because weight loss alone ain’t going to do it for him. His main problem, I think, is that he wasn’t doing much thinking in ’10. His baserunning was TERRIBLE. His fielding declined. A lot of areas for improvement, starting with the cabeza. Hopefully he’s looking around at some of the other Giants getting paid, and will focus himself. We’ll see.
Lefty specialist yes!!! The phillies could not touch him.
So Lopez has had one really good series, That doesn’t mean that he will dominate for you out of the pen all year.
The Giants pen is one of the best in the league, Lopez filled exactly what the Giants needed, a lefty specialist
Btw Gwynn is a late game defensive replacement and pinch runner at best.
Gywnn would only start if he proves that he can hit during Spring Training, which no one really expects to happen anyway. It’s simply a possibility.
They may have not made big improvements, but I don’t think Uribe is big enough. I still think this is a race between the Rockies and Giants.
I think the Dodgers and even the Padres should be in contention too. I think the Dodgers should be able to at least stay in contention until the trade deadline, when they can trade for a starting third baseman, or left fielder.
What’s wrong with Looney? He’s a capable 1b.
I want Gwynn in CF, Ethier in LF, and Kemp in RF sooooooo bad.
That’s what I want personally, but only if Gwynn shows that he can hit.
The A’s 5th starter spot up between Rich Harden, Josh Outman, Brandon McCarthy,Tyson Ross and Bobby Cramer should be an interesting one to watch.
I thought the A’s were planning on turning Harden into a reliever.
Well they plan on having it be whoever loses out on the 5th spot as the reliever
harden wont be starting… and if he is…. it’ll be til his arm falls off, which shouldnt take to long. i think it’ll be outman
outman is a sick name for a pitcher, and a terrible name for a hitter
if the White Sox use Sale in the rotation, someones needs to kick ozzie/kenny in the nuts. Look at how bad the Cubs handled Samardzija and tell me bouncing a guy in and out of the rotation is a good idea
Well if they commit him to being a starter until Peavy returns how is that bouncing him back and forth? I assume it will help limit his innings, seeing as how he only threw 136 IP between college, minors and mlb last year. He can pitch until Peavy returns, then head to the pen to finish the season and then spend 2011 in the rotation assuming EJax or Buerhle don’t return.
why bother having him start? they have other options other than Sale in the fifth spot of the rotation. he is young and needs to have one role the entire year
I thought the fifth spot in the Yankees rotation was gonna go to Steve Nebraska!
Ok, despite having Brendan Frasier, that movie sucked.
Haha…..”despote having Brendan Frasier”? Maybe because of Brendan Frasier.
Hence me mentioning it
Should’ve read “spend 2012 in the rotation….”
42 IP and Ivan Nova is a veteran?
swisher’s a veteran with 1 IP