Two weeks from Monday is Opening Day! Stats today, gone tomorrow! #Nats

There are 21 position players still on the roster in Spring Training. The stats (below) say that if Michael A. Taylor could stay at this pace the entire season he will be MVP and break many records, and that is just not reality. Spring Training stats have very little reflection on what will happen in the regular season; however, let us give Michael A. Taylor credit that he has come into camp ready to play. Dusty Baker made a basketball analogy and called Taylor ‘his 6th man’ which is a strong compliment.

Photo for TalkNats by NatsRed4DinDC

Out of these 21 names, 13 will make the Opening Day roster and 8 will either head to AAA or traded or released. There hasn’t been one cut that has surprised anyone except possibly that Difo was sent to the Minor League side so soon.

Here are the stats through today:

We already know Jim Bowden’s starting 8 of Revere LF, Rendon 3B, Harper RF, RZim 1B, Murphy 2B, Ramos C, Taylor CF, Trea Turner SS.

Here is what Dusty has hinted at for his Opening Day roster:

1. Ben Revere CF
2. Daniel Murphy 2B
3. Bryce Harper RF
4. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
5. Anthony Rendon 3B
6. Jayson Werth LF
7. Wilson Ramos C
8. Danny Espinosa SS

MLB Network has their line-up where they aren’t stacking lefties:

Screenshot from MLB Network

The Bench right now looks like:

1. Jose Lobaton C
2. Michael A. Taylor OF
3. Stephen Drew IF
4. Clint Robinson 1B/OF

Pick the last remaining spot from: Tyler Moore, Matt den Dekker, Scott Sizemore, Tony Campana, Reed Johnson, Brendan Ryan and Chris Heisey as we anticipate Trea Turner and Jhonatan Solano will go to AAA.

The starting rotation is set after the injury to Bronson Arroyo:

1. Max Scherzer
2. Stephen Strasburg
3. Gio Gonzalez
4. Tanner Roark
5. Joe Ross

The bullpen looks right now like this:

1. Jonathan Papelbon
2. Yusmeiro Petit
3. Blake Treinen
4. Shawn Kelley
5. Felipe Lopez
6. Oliver Perez

The last remaining bullpen spot could be decided out of Sean Burnett, Trevor Gott, Rafael Martin, Matt Belisle, and Michael Brady. Erik Davis, Laffey, Badenhop and Masset all look like long-shots now. Lucas Giolito is one of the starters still in camp, and he looked MLB ready yesterday.

With Bronson Arroyo out, there will be exactly 43 players left in Big League camp. There are 18 cuts/moves remaining to be made.

This was Steve’s Opening Day roster prediction a while ago and we will have to see how this ends up.