San Diego Padres: More Roster News, 25-Man Later Today

In a sign of the season, the San Diego Padres have begun informing players whether they’ve made the Opening Day roster or not, with the full 25-man roster being announced later today, as per reports.

As per multiple reports, the San Diego Padres have whittled their roster down even closer to the 25-man limit, with the rest of the team’s Opening Day roster expected to be announced later today.

From AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, Jordan Lyles and Kyle McGrath have both been told that they made the team out of camp, as was Matt Szczur.  Buddy Baumann, Phil Maton, and Travis Jankowski will all been optioned to Triple-A El Paso.

As per Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune, Szczur, A.J. Ellis, Rafael Lopez, Carlos Asuaje, and Cory Spangenberg are all still at the team facilities, indicating (to me at least) that my guy Spangler has indeed made the Opening Day squad. Woohoo!

What does this mean for the Padres and what’s left to determine?

From AJ Cassavell again, the San Diego Padres won’t be announcing the remaining roster decisions until after today’s practice at Petco Park in San Diego.

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Having made the decision to keep two backup catchers and both Spangenberg and Asauje signifies to me that the team’s bullpen will likely be sitting at seven members until the other shoe(s) drop.

Once Franchy Cordero, and eventually, Dinelson Lamet, are both healthy enough to return, we could see Friars’ manager Andy Green shuffle things around and go to an eight-man ‘pen, with a four-man bench.

The fact that they don’t need a fifth starter for a few days also likely will figure into these decisions.

Keep in mind, with two backup backstops, the Friars’ bench figures to be even shorter for now.

Luckily for the team, they have multiple other position players who can all contribute in a handful of different areas in the field, therefore limiting the necessity for a true backup at every position.

Next: Padres Playing it Safe

How Green and AJ Preller choose to fill out the last spots on this team’s roster, while interesting no doubt, won’t be set in stone.

Updated 12:35 PM PDT: As per MLBTradeRumors.com RHP Rowan Wick, who the Padres claimed off waivers this past offseason from the St. Louis Cardinals, cleared waivers and was given his outright release from the team.