San Diego Padres: Three sleeper candidates to make the roster

Major League Baseball’s roster expansion this year will provide some flexibility for the San Diego Padres. Here are three sleepers that could make the team.

Beginning this year, the traditional 25-man roster will expand, adding another player that a team can carry throughout the year. How organizations utilize the extra roster space is entirely up to them. Still, the move is certainly going to provide opportunities to fringe players that were usually cut or sent to the minors in previous years. For the San Diego Padres, the roster appears to be mostly set, outside of second base, center field, and the fifth starter position.

However, the team is likely to utilize the 26th man to provide depth at a particular position. But first, let’s look at what figures to form the first 25 guys on the roster:

Catcher: Francisco Mejia and Austin Hedges

First Base: Eric Hosmer

Second Base: Brian Dozier, Jurickson Profar, and Greg Garcia

Shortstop: Fernando Tatis Jr.

Third Base: Manny Machado

Left Field: Tommy Pham

Center Field: Trent Grisham and Franchy Cordero

Right Field: Wil Myers and Josh Naylor

Starting Rotation: Chris Paddack, Garrett Richards, Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies, and Joey Lucchesi

Bullpen: Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Emilio Pagan, Andres Munoz, Craig Stammen, Matt Strahm, and Jose Castillo.

Now let’s look at three players that could sneak onto the roster.