Several moves announced

Before the game last night, several announcements regarding the roster were announced. They weren’t formally made, however, so the roster (officially) remains as it was. But several things were announced:
C.J Wilson was named the closer: This one is the most obvious. I know officially anyway, there was talk that Eddie Guarardo was going to challenge Wilson, but I don’t think anyone really believed that was a true competition. CJ seems like he could do the job after going 12-14 in save opportunities last year late. He doesn’t strike fear in people at this point though (like Papelbon, Mariano Rivera at his prime, and Ugueth Urbina when he wasn’t in jail), but he seems to be able to do the job. Hopefully he stays healthy and performs. It’s been a few years now since we haven’t had to change closers during a season.
Franklyn German makes the club: From the spring he’s had, this isn’t a huge surprise. He’s done a nice job, and assuming this isn’t a flash in the pan in spring training, this should be a good move. Hard to argue with giving a job to a guy whose ERA is 1.00. He has previous major league experience after being up with the Marlins in 2006, as well as with the Tigers from 2002-2005.
Jamey Wright makes the club: No huge surprise here. He did well for us in the pen last year, and that’s where he’s headed again. Should help out, assuming he doesn’t regress.
Frank Francisco to minors: Ever since the chair throwing incident, he doesn’t seem to have regained his total dominance he showed for awhile there. Shame, as I wanted him to succeed if for no other reason than to give the middle finger to Craig Bueno.
This leaves the bullpen with this roster: C.J. Wilson, Joaquin Benoit, Kaz Fukumori, Eddie Guardado, Franklyn German and Jamey Wright. There’s still two open spots. My guess for those spots are Robinson Tejeda (because of the options thing)
Some other announcements:
Jason Botts makes the club: Jason has had a decent enough spring, and reports seem to indicate he’s improved on his defense enough where he’s earned himself a spot. I think this is probably his last chance though – if he blows this, I doubt he’ll get through waivers.
Nelson Cruz to be DFA’ed: Several reports say that the Rangers will try and get Cruz through waivers, but I don’t think anyone expects that to happen. He has one of the better throwing arms, and even though given multiple chances, has not grasped the role of regular, because his offense is so all over the place.
Kevin Mench to minors: In another move that I think surprised nobody, Kevin Mench will start the season in AAA. His contract stated he would agree to that, so once that clause was in there, I think he realistically became “the insurance policy”. He would have had to have been miles above anyone else to make the club’s opening day 25 man. Still, it would not surprise me to see him up here before too long, unless everyone stays healthy.
Jason Ellison to minors: Jason Ellison was also told he won’t make the club, which doesn’t seem like much of a surprise. I wasn’t hearing his name a ton in reports and all that.
Catching:
Salty to AAA: This one came in right when I started writing this article, so I had to include it. According to TR Sullivan this morning, it was decided that Adam Melhuse would make the club as the backup to Gerald Laird, with Jarrod Saltamacchia going to AAA to get regular work. There also was some talk that Jon Daniels might still be trying to move Gerald Laird before the start of the season, but wants to get good value. He better, as while I don’t think Laird is the seriously long term answer, he does appear to be a good catcher, so you don’t want to just give him away.
A few notes, though. Franklyn German, Jamey Wright, and Adam Melhuse are NOT on the 40 man roster, and since ours is full, room will have to be made for them. The obvious candidate is Nelson Cruz, who is reported to be dfa’ed. That’s one. The others will probably be guys moved to the 60 day DL.
None of these roster moves were officially made, my guess is we see a big bomb of transactions all at once right before the actual deadline when we have to get down to our starting 25.