The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that first baseman Travis Ishikawa was added to the 40 man roster, among a plethora of moves to get the Opening Day roster to the 25 man limit. As expected, catcher Chris Stewart was placed on the disabled list. Jeff Locke was also placed on the disabled list. Both moves are retroactive to March 21st.
The final move was Andy Oliver being outrighted to Indianapolis. He was out of options, so he needed to clear waivers before being sent to the minors. Also dropped from the 40 man roster was reliever Vin Mazzaro, who was designated for assignment today.
The Final Roster
Starting Pitchers: Francisco Liriano, Edinson Volzquez, Wandy Rodriguez, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton
Bullpen: Jason Grilli, Mark Melancon, Bryan Morris, Tony Watson, Justin Wilson, Stolmy Pimentel, Jeanmar Gomez
Catchers: Russell Martin, Tony Sanchez
Infielders: Neil Walker, Gaby Sanchez, Clint Barmes, Jordy Mercer, Pedro Alvarez, Josh Harrison, Travis Ishikawa
Outfielders: Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Travis Snider, Jose Tabata
UPDATE 2:13 PM: Thoughts from Tim Williams:
Nothing unexpected here. I wrote about Mazzaro in the other article. Oliver didn’t have a chance to make the team, and it’s not a big surprise that he cleared waivers, since another team would have had to place him on the active roster with a claim. The Pirates can send him to the minors for one season and try to turn him around before he’s eligible for minor league free agency at the end of the year.
The move to put Locke on the DL is a bit surprising, only because he will just go to Indianapolis and rehab. If they would have optioned him, he would have gone to Indianapolis to do the same thing. I don’t know if this is a requirement where they have to place him on the DL, but either way he will be doing the same thing. The one advantage this gives them is that they’ll have an extra pitcher with Indianapolis (Locke wouldn’t count against the team’s 25-man roster). That’s beneficial, since Jameson Taillon will miss a month, and Locke won’t be fully stretched out at the start of the year.
With Oliver and Mazzaro being removed from the 40-man roster, and Ishikawa being the only guy added, the Pirates now have one open spot on the 40-man roster.
