After a flurry of roster moves Friday, the Chicago White Sox have nearly settled on their 25-man Opening Day roster.
With the early-spring foot injury to ace pitcher Chris Sale, the White Sox will carry 11 pitchers into the opener, instead of 12 as had been expected when the spring began. Sale is eligible to return from the disabled list on April 11, but isn’t expected to make his season debut until April 12.
Micah Johnson and Carlos Sanchez were in a battle for the starting second base job, with the loser of the duel expected to be headed to the minor leagues, but the White Sox already had announced that both would make the roster. Sale’s injury essentially gave the White Sox room to carry both players.
Manager Robin Ventura is not expected to name his starting second baseman until Sunday.
Here are the 25 players the White Sox will have available Monday at Kansas City in the opener:
Pitchers (11): Jeff Samardzija, Jose Quintana, John Danks, Hector Noesi, David Robertson, Zach Duke, Zach Putnam, Javy Guerra, Dan Jennings, Matt Albers, and Kyle Drabek or Eric Surkamp.
Catchers (2): Tyler Flowers, Geovany Soto.
Infielders (8): Jose Abreu, Micah Johnson, Carlos Sanchez, Alexei Ramirez, Conor Gillaspie, Gordon Beckham, Emilio Bonifacio, Adam LaRoche.
Outfielders (4): Melky Cabrera, Adam Eaton, Avisail Garcia, J.B. Shuck.
Sale and reliever Jake Petricka will start the season on the disabled list. Both are due back before the end of April.
Soto, Albers and Johnson each have to be added to the 40-man roster before they can be named to the 25-man squad, so the White Sox opened some 40-man spots Friday.
Among the moves made after a 10-2 defeat to Triple-A affiliate Charlotte, the White Sox optioned Erik Johnson to Charlotte and also outrighted Maikel Cleto and Onelki Garcia to Charlotte. They reassigned Jairo Azencio, Engel Beltre, George Kottaras and Arcenio Leon to minor league camp.
