NEWSLETTER
Initially, Major League Baseball planned to trim rosters from the 30 players they began with on Opening Day to 28 players after two weeks (this weekend) and eventually to 26 players two weeks after that. But with an increase in the expectation of more games to be made up in a shorter amount of time (games called quicker for weather, COVID related postponements, etc.) – and the likelihood that we see a lot more double-headers because of that – the league has decided to go in a slightly different direction.
Active rosters will drop down to 28 players in two days, but they’ll remain at that level throughout the rest of the year:
Union telling players that roster size will reduce to from 30 and 28 on Thursday and remain at that level for the rest of the season and postseason, source tells The Athletic. Taxi squad will be expanded from three players to five players for remainder of the season.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 4, 2020
So what was once going to be a 26-man roster is now a 28-man roster for the remainder of the 2020 regular and postseason. Meanwhile, the three-person taxi squad – which is notably NOT the entire group of players in South bend, but rather the three players who actually travel with the team in case of a last-minute issue that requires additional help – will be expanded from three players to five players for the remainder of the year. Presumably, one of those players must still be a catcher, as it were ruled initially.
It’s too early to speculate whom may be removed from the active roster in two days, but my best guess would be to look to the bullpen, which currently consists of 11 pitchers.
