Pittsburgh Pirates Make Four Roster Cuts

The Pittsburgh Pirates made four roster moves on Tuesday afternoon

Opening Day is just six days away, yay! This leaves the Pittsburgh Pirates less than a week to finalize their Opening Day roster. On Tuesday, they came one step closer to doing this.

This is due to the Pittsburgh Pirates making four roster cuts on Tuesday afternoon. The Pirates cut two pitchers and two position players from their Spring Training roster. This leaves the Bucs with 33 players in Major League camp.

Two players were optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis, while two were re-assigned to minor league camp. The Pittsburgh Pirates optioned starting pitcher Steven Brault and infielder Gift Ngoepe to Triple-A Indianapolis. Meanwhile, they re-assigned pitcher Josh Lindblom and infielder Jason Rogers to minor league camp.

With Brault being optioned to Triple-A, this makes the four-man race for the last spot in the Pirates’ starting rotation a three-man race. The three pitchers still competing for a spot in the starting rotation are Drew Hutchison, Trevor Williams, and Tyler Glasnow.

Odds are, it is really a two horse race between Hutchison and Glasnow, with Hutchison being the front runner. However, that could hinge on how his outing against the Boston Red Sox goes tonight.

As was mentioned above, the Pirates still have 33 players in Major League camp. 20 out of the 25 spots on the Pirates’ roster are set in stone. Essentially, this leaves 13 players competing for five spots. However, three of the players (catchers Jackson Williams and Jacob Stallings and outfielder Danny Ortiz) have no chance of making the team.

These fives spots consist of one spot in the starting rotation, two in the bullpen, and two on the bench. Odds are that both Alen Hanson and Phil Gosselin are locks to make the bench, which would eliminate Jose Osuna from the equation. While the bullpen remains a competition between A.J. Schugel, Jared Hughes, Tyler Webb, and Wade LeBlanc for two spots.

Next: Who Should Get The Final Two Spots In The Bullpen?

In six days, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Opening Day roster will be finalized. It is possible that we will know what that roster will be before then. And on Tuesday, the Pirates came one step closer to finalizing their Opening Day roster.