The Seattle Mariners 2014 Opening Day 25-Man Roster

Mar 23, 2014; Peoria, AZ, USA; Seattle Mariners shortstop

(5) makes the play for the out against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Mariners made a series of key moves today, all but solidifying the 25-man roster for Opening Day on March 31st.

Notably– though not surprising– Brad Miller will be the Opening Day shortstop with Nick Franklin being optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Other moves, enumerated by The Seattle Time’s Ryan Divish on twitter, include:

Currently the Mariners roster sits at 28 players, though three pitchers– Hisashi Iwakuma, Taijuan Walker, and Stephen Pryor— will likely be starting the season on the Disabled List. So, without further ado, here is new Skipper Lloyd McClendon‘s 25-man roster for Mariners Opening Day 2014:

Starting rotation

• Felix Hernandez
• Erasmo Ramirez
• James Paxton
• Roenis Elias
• Chris Young

Bullpen

• Fernando Rodney
• Danny Farquhar
• Charlie Furbush
• Tom Wilhelmsen
• Joe Beimel
• Yoervis Medina
• Hector Noesi

Outfielders

• Dustin Ackley
• Abraham Almonte
• Stefen Romero
• Michael Saunders

DH

• Logan Morrison
• Corey Hart

Infielders

• Willie Bloomquist
• Robinson Cano
• Brad Miller
• Kyle Seager
• Justin Smoak

Catchers

• John Buck
• Mike Zunino

Initial Thoughts:

Roenis Elias is pegged as the number 4 starter, making a jump similar to Brandon Maurer just last season. Also, though this is not evident by the 25-man roster, Chris Young did sign one of those 45 day restructuring contracts that Randy Wolf refused just a few days ago. He says he doesn’t care about the money, he just wants to play baseball. If Young plays well enough to start the year, that could allow Walker a number of games in the Minor Leagues so that he isn’t so rushed to the Majors.

Also, with Joe Beimel and Elias added to the 40-man roster, Carlos Triunfel and Xavier Avery were designated for assignment.

The four outfielders are young, unproven, and inexperienced. Stefen Romero will be the fourth outfielder. The one thing the deep patrolers have going for them is their versatility– every single one of them can serviceably play multiple outfield positions.

The infield is exactly what most expected it to be from 3rd to 1st with Seager, Miller, Cano, and Smoak.

What’s interesting is Hector Noesi making the Opening Day roster as the long reliever in the ‘Pen. He had a good spring, but this could stem from him being out of minor-league options.

With this 25-man roster in place it finally feels like Opening Day is just around the corner! It is time for real baseball once again.

Keep watch for what happens with all the pitchers, especially the rotation, as Iwakuma and Walker get healthy. The Mariners also have quite a few days off to start the season, so some mixing and matching is bound to happen.

But the guessing games are over: Welcome to the 2014 Seattle Mariners.