Ryan McMahon will be on Rockies’ Opening Day roster

The Rockies Opening Day roster began to take shape Tuesday, as the team announced that Ryan McMahon will be on the 25-man roster in Arizona on Thursday for Opening Day.

Notable omissions from the roster will include Raimel Tapia and Tom Murphy. Tapia will start the season in Albuquerque following decreased playing time later in spring training. Although spring training numbers are suspect, Tapia did not blow anyone away with a .638 OPS in 67 plate appearances. Most of those close to the Rockies’ organization expected Mike Tauchman to beat out Tapia for the final outfield reserve spot in recent weeks.

Murphy, a longer shot for the major league roster at the beginning of spring training, will start in Triple-A and get regular playing time. The Rockies are still hopeful that he will contribute to the major league team later in 2018.

Manager Bud Black also announced his starting pitchers for the first series in Arizona: Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson, and German Marquez. Gray will get his chance to partially avenge a disappointing 2017 Wild Card Game performance—but we won’t dwell on that.

Although there have been calls from many Ian-Desmond-weary fans for McMahon to start at first base, it looks like Desmond will get his chance to avoid becoming $22 million of sunk cost in 2018, but he is likely to move around the diamond.

The Rockies have not released the official Opening Day roster, but the lineup for the final spring training game against the Mariners could be a lineup preview.

One more exhibition game, and then it’s time for some meaningful baseball!