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Roster Decisions: Braves, Jays, Tigers, Twins

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With Opening Day nearly upon us, here are a few of the notable roster decisions from around the game …

  • Right-hander Wes Parsons and non-roster invitees Matt Joyce and Josh Tomlin have made the Braves’ Opening Day roster, the team announced to reporters today (Twitter link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Meanwhile, as The Athletic’s David O’Brien writes, Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright will be a part of Atlanta’s rotation to begin the season. That makes for quite an interesting and unexpected collection of roster pieces. The club is waiting to finalize its roster completely while evaluating external options.
  • Right-hander Trent Thornton, whom the Blue Jays acquired in exchange for Aledmys Diaz this winter, will be Toronto’s fourth starter to open the season, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Fellow righty Sam Gaviglio will open the year as a long man in the bullpen. In other decisions for the Jays, also via Davidi, the club has decided to keep Rule 5 righty Elvis Luciano despite some rocky moments this spring. Southpaw Thomas Pannone and infielder Richard Urena are also heading north, with the team’s final roster spot still up for grabs. It may go to Bud Norris if he’s ready, says Davidi, with the team also pondering Javy Guerra while eyeing outside possibilities.
  • The Tigers have informed righty Spencer Turnbull that he’ll be in the rotation to begin the season, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. He took that job over lefty Daniel Norris, who’ll open the year in the bullpen. Norris will work in a long capacity, with the goal being to keep him stretched out in case a starting spot comes open. Turnbull, 26, earned the nod with an excellent spring showing: 15 frames of 1.80 ERA pitching with 15 strikeouts and just a pair of walks. The former second-round pick reached the big leagues briefly last year, but spent most of his ’18 season at Double-A. He pitched to a 4.47 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 98 2/3 innings over 19 starts at the penultimate level of the minors.
  • In one of the better stories of Spring Training, Ryne Harper has made the Twins’ Opening Day roster, as manager Rocco Baldelli recently announced (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Harper, who turns thirty today, enjoyed a terrific spring with the Twins and will now have the opportunity to pitch in his first big league game after grinding through eight minor league seasons. The call to the big leagues for Harper is surely sweetened by the fact that he’s come as close to making his big league debut as possible in the past; the Mariners selected Harper’s contract back in 2017 but optioned him back to Triple-A before he ever appeared in a game. He was outrighted before ever being summoned back to the big leagues.

AL Central Notes: Hanley, Rosario, Turnbull

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Hanley Ramirez has a March 24 opt-out date in his minor league contract with the Indians, tweets Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. They’ve been trying to get the veteran slugger as many at-bats as possible in a short period of time in order to make their best judgment on whether he can help the club. If Ramirez were to make the roster, he’d serve as a pure designated hitter, thus pushing Carlos Santana into regular first-base duty and moving Jake Bauers into the outfield with more regularity. Entering play Wednesday, Ramirez was 7-for-28 with a pair of doubles, a walk and five strikeouts through 29 official plate appearances thus far in Cactus League play (not including any work he’s received in minor league and intrasquad games).

Some additional chatter from the AL Central…

  • Outfielder Eddie Rosario tells Dan Hayes of The Athletic that he’s open to signing a long-term deal with the Twins (subscription link). The interest is mutual, Hayes adds, though to this point there’s been no meaningful progress in talks. Rosario has solidified himself as a quality regular over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .289/.326/.493 with 51 homers, 64 doubles, four triples and 17 steals. He’ll earn $4.19MM in 2019 after reaching arbitration for the first time and won’t be a free agent until after the 2021 season. Rosario will play the upcoming season at age 27 and would’ve been eligible for free agency entering his age-30 season. Agreeing on how many free-agent years to buy out and placing an annual value on those seasons will be the main talking point in negotiations, as both the Twins and Rosario’s representatives have a pretty clear idea of what he can plausibly earn in his final two arbitration years.
  • The loss of Michael Fulmer to Tommy John surgery has opened up a potential path to the Majors for Tigers right-hander Spencer Turnbull, writes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. Detroit skipper Ron Gardenhire has previously advocated for Turnbull as a viable rotation candidate, Fenech notes, and the 26-year-old righty could find himself vying with southpaw Daniel Norris for a rotation spot early in the season. The 2014 second-rounder made his MLB debut in 2018, and though he was tagged for 11 runs in 16 1/3 innings, Turnbull only yielded 17 hits and four walks to go along with 15 strikeouts. This spring, Turnbull has held opponents to three runs on 13 hits and a pair of walks with 15 strikeouts in 15 innings. The Tigers also have Matthew Boyd, Jordan Zimmermann, Tyson Ross and Matt Moore lined up for rotation jobs, and it’s possible that Norris (or perhaps Turnbull) opens the year in a multi-inning relief role.

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