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White Sox set Opening Day roster, if not lineup

Rick Renteria has flexibility or uncertainty, depending on your attitude

By Jim Margalus
MLB: Spring Training-Chicago White Sox at Milwaukee Brewers Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Once the White Sox announced on Friday afternoon that Rymer Liriano and Giovanni Soto cleared waivers to get to Charlotte, interested observers could fill in the blanks. The Sox had opened up the second and third spots on the 40-man roster needed to complete the Opening Day 25-man roster.

Geovany Soto only needed to stay healthy to claim one of the two catcher’s jobs, but fellow non-roster invitees Cody Asche and Anthony Swarzak came from further off the radar to surprise with season-opening MLB jobs, even if their holds on them could be tenuous at best.

Position players:

  • C: Omar Narvaez
  • 1B: Jose Abreu
  • 2B: Tyler Saladino
  • 3B: Todd Frazier
  • SS: Tim Anderson
  • LF: Melky Cabrera
  • CF: Jacob May
  • RF: Avisail Garcia
  • C: Geovany Soto
  • IF: Yolmer Sanchez
  • IF: Matt Davidson
  • IF/OF: Leury Garcia
  • IF/OF: Cody Asche

Pitchers:

  • SP: Jose Quintana
  • SP: Miguel Gonzalez
  • SP: Derek Holland
  • SP: James Shields
  • SP/RP: Dylan Covey
  • SP/RP: Anthony Swarzak
  • RHP: David Robertson
  • RHP: Nate Jones
  • RHP: Jake Petricka
  • RHP: Zach Putnam
  • RHP: Michael Ynoa
  • LHP: Dan Jennings

While this establishes the players available for Opening Day, some positions will be more fluid than others. For instance, Rick Renteria hadn’t yet named an Opening Day catcher for Opening Day starter for Jose Quintana. Davidson and Asche might be a platoon at DH, and it’s unclear whether Swarzak or Covey will start when the fifth spot rolls around. With an off day in each of the first four weeks — and the heightened potential for delays/postponements during an April that’s all cold-weather cities — the fifth spot might not be worth deep thought at this point. It’d be nice if Carlos Rodon made it a moot point halfway through.

No out-of-options players were lost in the making of this roster. The White Sox found homes for five of the six players without options, with Liriano being the only one outrighted. He hit .170 and struck out 22 times in 53 spring at-bats, which made him tough to roster for any team.

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