Tim Federowicz was optioned to the minor leagues Friday to get the Dodgers to 25 men on their Opening Day roster. (Associated Press photo)
The Dodgers, as expected, trimmed their roster to 25 this afternoon. Outfielder Joc Pederson, pitcher Zach Lee and infielder Miguel Rojas were reassigned to the minor leagues. Zack Greinke, Dan Haren and Brandon League were given roster exemptions and begin the season as “inactive.” Carl Crawford was placed on paternity leave. Pitchers Chad Billingsley (right elbow surgery) and Josh Beckett (right thumb contusion) and outfielder Matt Kemp (ankle surgery) on were placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday.
Not as expected: Catcher Tim Federowicz was optioned to the minor leagues. Federowicz was on a short list of players with contract options, so even though he spent all of 2013 as the backup to A.J. Ellis, Federowicz won’t be active for the first two games of the season. Drew Butera will back up Ellis.
First pitch is at 1:47 a.m. Pacific Time — not 1, or 1:30, as previously reported here. There is a chance of rain in the forecast and, fortunately, sliding glass windows in the press box.
Game 2 pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu will be speaking at a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground shortly, followed by baseball commissioner Bud Selig. If you’re not following me on Twitter or Tout, hop on it and you’ll get game updates throughout the middle of the night.
Or you can just wake up in the morning like a normal person, come back to this blog and catch up on what you missed.
Here is the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster, by position:
Pitchers (12):
Jose Dominguez
J.P. Howell (L)
Kenley Jansen
Clayton Kershaw (L)
Paul Maholm (L)
Chris Perez
Seth Rosin
Paco Rodriguez (L)
Hyun-Jin Ryu (L)
Brian Wilson
Chris Withrow
Jamey Wright
Catchers (2):
Drew Butera
A.J. Ellis
Infielders (6):
Dee Gordon (L)
Alex Guerrero
Adrian Gonzalez (L)
Hanley Ramirez
Justin Turner
Juan Uribe
Outfielders (4):
Mike Baxter (L)
Andre Ethier (L)
Yasiel Puig
Scott Van Slyke
Infielder/Outfielder (1):
Chone Figgins
Here’s the Dodgers’ lineup:
Yasiel Puig RF
Justin Turner 2B
Hanley Ramirez SS
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Scott Van Slyke LF
Juan Uribe 3B
Andre Ethier CF
A.J. Ellis C
Clayton Kershaw LHP
… and the Diamondbacks lineup:
A.J. Pollock CF
Aaron Hill 2B
Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Martin Prado 3B
Mark Trumbo LF
Miguel Montero C
Chris Owings SS
Gerardo Parra RF
Wade Miley LHP
