Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
The 2020 Major League Baseball season is a peculiar one because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and with that has come some new rule changes.
One of those was the size of active rosters as teams began with 30 players and it was expected to go down to 28 on Thursday, and after two more weeks be pared down to 26 to finish out the remainder of the season.
MLB and the Players Association recently agreed to a change in response to how many teams have had coronavirus outbreaks. Now, once rosters are trimmed to 28 active players, it will remain there for the rest of the year and postseason. Furthermore, the taxi squad will be increased to five players.
“I think they got it right, Major League Baseball and the Players Association,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the changes.
“I think that getting it down to 28 makes it more of baseball that we know, so there’s not as much matching up potential. And the extra taxi squad I think gives everyone coverage, so I think they nailed it.”
The Dodgers have arguably the best depth in all of baseball, so having two extra players on their active roster should be a huge benefit for them.
In previous comments made, Roberts was hoping they would even keep active rosters at 30 players. “I don’t have a vote, unfortunately,” he said.
Roberts anticipates optioning relievers
As it currently stands, the Dodgers have 17 pitchers and 13 positions players on their active roster. To get to 28, Roberts anticipates a pair of pitchers being optioned.
“Yeah, I would say certainly we have an abundance of pitching, and relief pitching in particular,” he acknowledged.
The primary candidates in the Dodgers bullpen to be removed from the roster are Dennis Santana and Victor Gonzalez, although injuries could certainly change things as well.
Others that aren’t on the active roster such as Tony Gonsolin, AJ Ramos and Gavin Lux are all chomping at the bit to see action at the big league level though, so there could be multiple changes.
The moves will need to come later this week, although the Dodgers are off so the changes will go into effect starting with Friday night’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants.
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