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3/25 Game Thread: Brewers vs. Royals

Game time is 2:05 Central. Jeff Suppan is pitching for the Crushers (or is it the Crushed?) against Zack Greinke.

The Royals are a pretty interesting team this year. Greinke is trying to come back from whatever was the matter with him (interestingly enough, after all he's been through, he's still younger than top pitching prospect Luke Hochevar), they have two ridiculous young hitters in Alex Gordon and Billy Butler, plus really good barbecue. If you want a Royal to cheer for, pick Erik Cordier, drafted a couple years ago out of a Wisconsin high school, who's now suffered through both knee and elbow surgery.

Anyway, onto the team you actually care about; if you click on the "Crushed" link above, Adam provides a few more clues about the final roster:

The team is still deciding whether to carry 11 or 12 pitchers to start the season.

The five-man starting rotation is set, leaving 10 pitchers vying for six or seven bullpen spots. Francisco Cordero, Derrick Turnbow, Matt Wise and Brian Shouse are safe bets to make the team, and coming into camp it was thought right-hander Jose Capellan was as well. But Capellan struggled against Texas on Friday night and has a 6.75 spring ERA.

Capellan, who had a 4.40 ERA in 61 outings last season, is not assured a spot in the bullpen, Yost said.

The six non-locks are Capellan, Greg Aquino, Carlos Villanueva, Chris Spurling, Joe Thatcher, and Grant Balfour. Looking back at Jeff's roster breakdown from a few days ago, the locks from the hitters' side are Johnny Estrada, [backup catcher], Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, JJ Hardy, Tony Graffanino, Craig Counsell, Bill Hall, Corey Hart, and Gabe Gross; ten guys. Thus, there are three or four open spots left for some combination of the Three Pariahs, plus Laynce Nix, Vinny Rottino and a possible third catcher. Since Rottino could just as easily be that third catcher, I'd say it's looking pretty good for Vinny right now.