While the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the start of the Major League Baseball season to mid-May (at the earliest), Purple Row is still looking toward Thursday as Opening Day. Using the technology available to us, we will be simulating broadcasts for the 2020 season.
After consulting with my colleagues at Purple Row and polling our Twitter followers, we have finalized the 26-man active roster (there are changes from the roster that was initially posted in the original simulation post).
Here’s how the roster breaks down by position:
Starting pitchers (5):
Jon Gray, Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Chi Chi González
Relief pitchers (8):
Wade Davis (closer), Scott Oberg, Jairo Díaz, Carlos Estévez, Jake McGee, Yency Almonte, Tyler Kinley, Jeff Hoffman
Catchers (2):
Elias Díaz, Tony Wolters
Infielders (4):
Nolan Arenado, Ryan McMahon, Daniel Murphy, Trevor Story
Outfielders (5):
Charlie Blackmon, David Dahl, Ian Desmond, Sam Hilliard, Raimel Tapia
Infielders/outfielders (2):
Garrett Hampson, Chris Owings
Those just missing the final cut were catcher Drew Butera, outfielder Yonathan Daza, infielder Josh Fuentes and relief pitchers James Pazos and Bryan Shaw. After consulting all available information, the conclusion was made that the 26-man roster chosen was the most likely to reflect what the Rockies’ organization would put on the field if an actual Opening Day roster were to be constructed at this moment.
Here are our (simulated) transactions:
- The contracts of Elias Díaz and Chris Owings have been selected to the 40-man roster
- Peter Lambert has been placed on the 15-day Injured List with a strained forearm
- Ryan Castellani, Yonathan Daza, Phillip Diehl, Josh Fuentes, José Mujica, Dom Nuñez, James Pazos, Brendan Rodgers and Jesús Tinoco have been optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque
- Drew Butera has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque
- Bryan Shaw has been placed on waivers
We’ll have a game thread this Thursday, March 26, at 2:10 PM MT for our simulated Opening Day featuring the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres. We’ll have an embedded YouTube video featuring our live broadcast, and I sincerely hope you tune in!