In addition, the  AA roster is now final according to buccofans.com, via the Altoona Mirror. The AAA Indianapolis Indians roster is not yet final, and can’t be set until we see if Brandon Moss clears waivers. Here is the link to their roster page. What is there now is probably 98% of what it will look like when they open their season, and any updates will likely be reflected there before I can post about them anyway.

I have 2 more season preview posts to come between now and first pitch at 1;35 tomorrow.  The first is the offensive preview to be posted tonight as soon as I finish it.  The other is a predictions post, which will go up tomorrow morning.  I’ll be down at pnc park tomorrow, so I expect I’ll post some pictures, thoughts, etc. sometime tomorrow night  if I have time, or Tuesday if I don’t get to it tomorrow.

Vazquez is supposed to be ready for opening day, but if that scheduled gets pushed back some, that would open up an extra spot on the bench to open the year until Vazquez can go.  While some have speculated that he was on the fence to make the team to begin with, my personal feeling is that he was a lock for a bench spot due to his salary and veteran presence.  Either way, the injury may cloud his status a bit as we move toward opening day.

Hanrahan’s injury is much more serious, as he is scheduled to see Dr. James Andrews next week, which is almost never a good sign.  Hanrahan, one of the few bullpen holdovers from last season, will likely miss at least the beginning part of the season.  Hanrahan was projected to be a set-up man this season, and who fills that role is hard to say at this juncture, but at the very least it just makes the backend of the bullpen a little less certain and opens up an extra spot for one of the many NRIs.