The Pittsburgh Pirates made their finals moves on Thursday morning to set their 25-man roster for Opening Day. Here are the moves:
Francisco Liriano, JB Shuck and Melky Cabrera were officially added to the 40-man roster. Edgar Santana was placed on the 60-day injured list to clear one spot, while Jake Barrett and Aaron Slegers were both designated for assignment.
The Pirates wanted to make sure Jordan Lyles and Lonnie Chisenhall were ready before committing to them on the Opening Day roster. Lyles threw this morning at Pirate City, while Chisenhall was hit on the hand by a pitch on Monday. Neither ended up being available for Opening Day, although in the case of Lyles, it appears that it has more to do with him being the fifth starter and the Pirates won’t need him right away. His move was made retroactive to March 25th, so he will be available (if he’s ready) on his scheduled day to pitch. As reported earlier, Chisenhall has a broken right hand.
Besides Santana, the Pirates also placed Elias Diaz, Dovydas Neverauskas, Gregory Polanco and Jose Osuna on the injured list. Osuna has a lower neck injury, while Neverauskas has a left oblique strain.
Here’s the full roster:
Pitchers
Chris Archer
Steven Brault
Nick Burdi
Kyle Crick
Keone Kela
Nick Kingham
Francisco Liriano
Joe Musgrove
Richard Rodriguez
Jameson Taillon
Felipe Vazquez
Trevor Williams
Catchers
Francisco Cervelli
Jacob Stallings
Infielders
Josh Bell
Adam Frazier
Erik Gonzalez
Jung Ho Kang
Colin Moran
Kevin Newman
Pablo Reyes
Outfielders
Melky Cabrera
Corey Dickerson
Starling Marte
JB Shuck
We will have a season preview and a payroll analysis article later today, followed by the live game discussion thread for today’s 4:10 PM start time.