The Los Angeles Dodgers 25-man Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape as the club moves closer to beginning the season against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently confirmed that despite the injury to Justin Turner, the plan is still to go with eight relievers. One thing that is for sure is that switch-pitcher Pat Venditte will not be one of them, as he will start the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City after being assigned to Minor League camp.
It is looking like Yimi Garcia may also not be on the roster, as he could potentially open the season on the disabled list to continue to build up strength as he works to return from Tommy John surgery, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Yimi Garcia might open on DL , still rebuilding after Tommy John surgery.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) March 24, 2018
With Garcia likely not making the roster, that means the last pair of bullpen and roster spots presumably will be going to J.T. Chargois, who was claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins during the offseason, and Wilmer Font.
Font has not pitched that well this spring, but he is out of Minor League options so the Dodgers risk losing him from the organization if he is not included on their active roster come Opening Day.
Garcia has appeared in five games this spring and is scheduled for one more outing on Saturday. In 4.2 innings he has given up five hits and three runs (5.79 ERA) while striking out five and walking two.
Up until Saturday he had not appeared in a game since March 18, so the writing was on the wall that he likely wouldn’t make the roster to begin the season.
Having not pitched in a Major League game in almost two years, it will take more than five outings for Garcia to return to what he was before the surgery so it makes sense to put him on the DL to begin the season.
