Joe Girardi has said that we won't officially see his final roster for the AL wild card game until tomorrow, but that hasn't stopped some beat writers from putting things together. If Masahiro Tanaka starts tomorrow, and the starting nine of Greg Bird, Dustin Ackley, Didi Gregorius, Chase Headley, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, Carlos Beltran, and Alex Rodriguez all make the roster, that would leave the Yankees with 15 spots to play with.
When formulating a bench, the Yankees will not take Jose Pirela with them:
Jose Pirela is not on the wild card roster. Going to Tampa to get at bats.
— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) October 5, 2015
But, they will have Slade Heathcott and Rico Noel:
Slade Heathcott and Rico Noel each said they believe they're on the roster tomorrow. #pinchrunning
— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) October 5, 2015
Add them to Chris Young, John Ryan Murphy, and Brendan Ryan, and the Yankees have 10 remaining roster spots.
We all know that Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, Justin Wilson, and Adam Warren will be in the backend of the bullpen, but that's where expectations come to an end. For the one-game format of the wild card game, several Yankees starting pitchers could be moved into the bullpen, including Luis Severino, Michael Pineda, and Ivan Nova. That means the Yankees have, at least three spots left to fill and we're getting a sense of who may or may not be there.
As we know, CC Sabathia won't be on the playoff roster. Nathan Eovaldi isn't going to be ready for Tuesday's game, but he could still be in play for a potential ALDS:
Nathan Eovaldi faced hitters today. He's confident he'll be ready to go out of the pen if the Yankees advance to ALDS #yankees
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) October 5, 2015
For those of you who were worried, Chris Capuano will not be in tomorrow's bullpen:
Chris Capuano said he is not on the wild card game roster.
— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) October 5, 2015
You can also eliminate Caleb Cotham, Branden Pinder, Nick Rumbelow, Nick Goody, and Chris Martin from consideration, as well:
I'm sure there are others, but Cotham, Pinder and Rumbelow are heading to Tampa to throw and stay ready. Not on WC roster though.
— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) October 5, 2015
Also, Goody and Martin already have lockers cleaned out. Safe bet they're not on roster either.
— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) October 5, 2015
Chasen Shreve told me he won't be on the playoff roster tomorrow (Wild Card game)
— Marly Rivera ~ ESPN (@MarlyRiveraESPN) October 5, 2015
That means that the remaining names include James Pazos, Andrew Bailey, and Bryan Mitchell, with Rob Refsnyder also a possibility on the bench. I imagine Pazos will be on there in order to provide a second lefty in the bullpen, and I hope Refsnyder makes the team as a right-handed bat off the bench to face Dallas Keuchel. With the Stephen Drew out with a concussion, and choosing between Bailey and Mitchell for the last spot on the roster really doesn't mean much. If either see playing time in this game, something has gone extremely wrong.