Two notes from Adam Rubin’s latest blog.
He believes that the team that trotted out tonight in Tropicana Park will be the Opening Day lineup, sans the designated hitter. Meaning Gary Matthews Jr. will get the start over Angel Pagan.
He does note that they will likely split time until Carlos Beltran returns.
That means the lineup will look like this on Monday:
- Alex Cora
- Luis Castillo
- David Wright
- Mike Jacobs
- Jason Bay
- Gary Matthews Jr.
- Jeff Francoeur
- Rod Barajas
- Johan Santana
Only two position players and Santana are players that were in last year’s Opening Day lineup. Yikes.
Rubin also notes that though Cora will start on Opening Day, Ruben Tejada will likely get more playing time until Jose Reyes returns.
If he’s coming north, he might as well play.