Red Sox make second round of roster cuts

Prior to Monday’s game against the Twins, the Red Sox trimmed down their spring training roster by a few more spots, getting us closer to the Opening Day roster. In total, they re-assigned twelve players to minor-league camp. Eleven of them are listed below.

The twelfth player was Ryan Weber, who was re-assigned after pitching very well in Monday’s game.

As Smith notes above, Gorkys Hernández and Juan Centeno are the two players still in big-league camp who are not on the 40-man roster. Neither of them have a real chance at making the Opening Day roster, barring injury.

With the players cut, there weren’t any real surprises here. Bobby Dalbec lasting longer than Michael Chavis was a surprised, but neither ever really had a shot at making the roster out of camp. They likely wanted Chavis to get more full games in minor-league camp. Bryce Brentz is the most likely of this group to contribute at some point relatively early in 2019, and even he doesn’t have a great chance.

The Red Sox now have just two questions to answer with respect to their Opening Day roster. One is who will catch, a question that is not going to be answered by spring roster cuts. The other is who will make the Opening Day bullpen. As things stand now, there are five pitchers vying for those last two bullpen spots. Those are: Colten Brewer, Darwinzon Hernández, Bobby Poyner, Hector Velázquez and Marcus Walden. Hernández is certainly the most intriguing of that group and has the most upside, and him surviving this long in camp is a surprise. I’d still be surprised if he makes it to Seattle, but it’s still possible at this point. I’m sticking with Walden and Poyner as my predictions for now, but this situation is very fluid.