Marlins announce 2019 Opening Day roster

Made official on the eve of MLB Opening Day, meet your 2019 Miami Marlins active roster:

• Starting pitchers—LHP Caleb Smith, RHP Sandy Alcántara, RHP Pablo López, RHP Trevor Richards and RHP José Ureña

• Relief pitchers—RHP Nick Anderson, RHP Austin Brice, LHP Wei-Yin Chen, LHP Adam Conley, RHP Tayron Guerrero, RHP Sergio Romo, RHP Drew Steckenrider and RHP Tyler Kinley

• Catchers—Jorge Alfaro and Chad Wallach

• Infielders—Starlin Castro, Brian Anderson, JT Riddle, Miguel Rojas, Neil Walker and Martín Prado

• Outfielders—Garrett Cooper, Curtis Granderson, Rosell Herrera and Lewis Brinson

For comparison’s sake, here is the 2018 squad (courtesy of Roster Resource):

Roster Resource

These are the exact same 25 players who were projected to make it Monday afternoon, though there were several surprising twists during the days leading up to that.

Featured prominently in the Marlins’ community events and offseason marketing, South Florida native Peter O’Brien was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans on Saturday. He had an inconsistent spring, whereas Cooper lit it up to seize the corner outfielder platoon role from him. As a Rule 5 draft selection, right-hander Riley Ferrell was required to crack the active roster if healthy. Instead, he’s been placed on the 10-day injured list with biceps tendinitis (eligible to return April 4). Most shockingly, Miami salary-dumped veteran starter Dan Straily on Monday—only about one-quarter of his $5 million contract was guaranteed—to pave the way for their young arms to fill out the rotation themselves.