No major surprises. I expected RHP Justin Ferrell to get an invite. He's really the only player I expected to be on the AAA roster that didn't get one. Of the guys who did get invited, only RHP Jose Hernandez was a surprise; he's also the only player who hasn't played at AA or higher. He obviously has something they like. They've stuck by him through years of injuries and relatively middling performance. Based on those invites (which I think have been a pretty good predictor in years' past), the opening day AAA roster should look something like: C: Stubbs, Ritchie IF: Reed, Rojas, De Goti, Tanielu, Mayfield, Jones OF: Tucker, Straw, Fisher, Alvarez P: Whitley, Martin, Armenteros, Rodgers, C Perez, Hartman, Bostick, Sneed, Emanuel, Guduan, Deetz, McCurry, Pinales
Would very likely be as good or better than the current OF of the Giants, Indians, Rockies, Tigers, White Sox, Marlins, Royals, and Orioles.
This will be interesting to follow. I know that McHugh will most likely end up in the rotation and Peacock will end up in the pen, but are we sure that McHugh is the better SP between the two? McHugh as a SP in 2017 (first year with his slider): 63 IP, 4.66 xFIP, 0.318 xwOBA. Peacock as a SP in 2017: 111 IP, 3.65 xFIP, 0.274 xwOBA.