Pittsburgh Pirates: What the Opening Day Roster Should Be
By Marty Leap
Starting rotation – José Quintana, Mitch Keller, Zach Thompson, JT Brubaker, Roansy Contreras
Bullpen – David Bednar, Chris Stratton, Heath Hembree, Anthony Banda, Dillon Peters, Sam Howard, Bryse Wilson, Duane Underwood Jr., Adonis Medina, Wil Crowe
The pitching staff is another group that will likely look a good bit differently on Opening Day from what we will discuss here. Quintana, Keller and Thompson will all be in the starting rotation. Between the rotation and bullpen two of Brubaker, Wilson and Crowe will be there as well. Bednar, Stratton, Hembree, Banda, Peters, Howard, and Underwood Jr. should all end up in the bullpen as well.
With roster expanded to 28 players to start the season this will likely lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates expanding their bullpen from 8 arms to 10 to start the season. This opens the door for Medina, a recent waiver wire addition, as well as Wilson cracking the Opening Day roster.
This is also a group being impact by injury. Blake Cederlind is on the 60-day IL as he works his way back from Tommy John Surgery. Nick Mears also finds himself on the 60-day IL. Miguel Yajure, who would likely crack the Opening Day rotation otherwise, has not thrown at all this spring due to injury, the same goes for Max Kranick who may have been able to compete for a bullpen spot.
The actual Opening Day rotation will likely see Crowe replace Contreras, with Contreras starting the season in the rotation at Indy. Contreras, however, does not appear to be a pitcher in need of any more minor league time.
He dominated in the minors last season, pitched 3 scoreless innings in his lone MLB start last September, pitched well in the Arizona Fall League, and has looked impressive this spring. While Contreras could very well be the future ace for the Pirate starting rotation, service time works against him and will likely land him in the minors to start the season.
In all reality the final two bullpen spots are likely rather irrelevant. When roster go back to 26 players on May 1st those two players are the most likely to be sent to Indianapolis. This would likely lead to Medina and potentially Wilson being optioned to Indy, where both could join the Indian starting rotation.