And the drum roll please….but before we announce the Opening Day 2016 roster, let us recap Dusty Baker‘s pre-game presser, he announced that he made the decision that Joe Ross would be on the Opening Day roster even though he won’t be needed for a start until April 13th. Most likely Joe Ross will work out of the pen only for a few games and will need to pitch a sim-game on April 9th to tune-up for his start on April 13th. Word we got from our source was “Dusty didn’t want to over-complicate things and cut a player in 2 weeks” which makes some sense from that standpoint.
Sean Burnett didn’t make the roster and Blake Treinen did. The last bench spot goes to Chris Heisey.
The rest of the roster is as follows:
Starters:
- Max Scherzer RHP
- Gio Gonzalez LHP
- Stephen Strasburg RHP
- Tanner Roark RHP
- Joe Ross RHP
Position Starters:
- Ben Revere LH
- Anthony Rendon RH
- Bryce Harper LH
- Ryan Zimmerman RH
- Daniel Murphy LH
- Jayson Werth RH
- Wilson Ramos RH
- Danny Espinosa SH
Bench Players:
- Jose Lobaton SH
- Clint Robinson LH
- Michael Taylor RH
- Stephen Drew LH
- Chris Heisey RH
Bullpen:
- Yusmeiro Petit RHP
- Matt Belisle RHP
- Oliver Perez LHP
- Blake Treinen RHP
- Felipe Rivero LHP
- Shawn Kelley RHP
- Jonathan Papelbon RHP
That is your Washington Nationals Opening Day roster for 2016.