Goodyear, AZ – Good afternoon everyone, just wanted to pass along some breaking roster moves passed along by Indians GM Chris Antonetti a few minutes ago. Chris announced that INF JASON DONALD and RHP DAN WHEELER have both been told that they will make the Indians Opening Day 25-man roster. Jason went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles yesterday to raise his spring average to .293 (12-41), while Dan has posted scoreless efforts in each of his last 5 relief appearances for the Tribe with opponents going just 4-for-17 (.235) in that span. C MATT PAGNOZZI, INF GREGORIO PETIT and OF FELIX PIE have all been told that they will not make the Opening Day roster, but will remain in Major League camp for the time being. The front office has also decided to exercise a retention bonus to keep INF JOSE LOPEZ in Major League camp, a move required by a new provision in the CBA for a certain classification of Major League free agents (’20b’) who sign Minor League contracts. If Jose does not break camp with the Indians, he will start the season at Triple-A Columbus. Dan also fell into this classification of Major League agents, but was informed of making the team prior to the required deadline (5 days before the start of the season).
Our Baseball Operations Dept. also announced that the club has reduced the roster by seven (7) additional players. INF RUSS CANZLER and LHP NICK HAGADONE have both been optioned to the Triple-A Columbus Clippers. C LUKE CARLIN, INF ANDY LaROCHE, RHP CHRIS RAY, LHP CHRIS SEDDON and RHP ROBINSON TEJEDA have all been re-assigned to minor league camp. There are currently 34 players remaining in Major League spring training camp (27 on 40-man, 7 non-roster invitees).
