Hernandez, Farrell, Goody make the team

The Texas Rangers have informed righthanded relief pitchers Jonathan Hernandez, Luke Farrell and Nick Goody that they will be on the Opening Day roster, per the beat guys on Twitter.

I think all three pitchers were seen as likely to make the roster, particularly with the 30 man limit for the first two weeks of the season. Along with those three, Jesse Chavez, Jose Leclerc and Rafael Montero are also expected to be in the pen, though Montero could start the year on the injured list, as he is not expected to be quite ready when the season begins due to getting a late start at summer camp.

If we assume that those six righthanders are on the team, as well as Joe Palumbo and Taylor Hearn as lefty relief options (at least until Brett Martin and Joely Rodriguez return), and add to them the five starting pitchers and the minimum of fourteen position players (assuming the Rangers start the year with three catchers) who would expected to be taken, that gets us to 27 players on the roster. That would leave three additional spots to fill.

If Edinson Volquez makes the team, as we expect, that would eat up one of the roster spots. That leaves two spots, and I’m guessing that they would likely both be pitchers, though Texas could go with an extra bench bat instead of a 16th arm.