Tigers cut Blaine Hardy and Jhan Marinez, Opening Day roster all but set

Well we all knew another set of roster cuts was coming. The latest round of cuts to the Tigers spring training roster sent left handed pitcher Blaine Hardy and right handed pitcher Jhan Marinez to minor league camp Thursday morning and cut down the Tigers opening day roster to 28.

Take away Jose Iglesias who is out for most, if not all of 2014 for bilateral tibial fractures, Bruce Rondon who will miss the 2014 season for Tommy John surgery and Andy Dirks who underwent lower back surgery last month and will be gone until June, and you have your 25-man roster for Opening Day.

Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski hasn't made any changes in the last day or so, therefore barring any last minute additions, the Opening Day roster should be set. This means that Evan Reed and Luke Putkonen have made the roster as long as nothing happens over the weekend. Here's the Opening Day roster as it looks right now.

Tigers position players are: Alex Avila-C, Bryan Holaday-C, Miguel Cabrera-1B, Ian Kinsler-2B, Alex Gonzalez-SS, Andrew Romine-SS, Nick Castellanos-3B, Rajai Davis-LF, Don Kelly-LF, Tyler Collins-LF, Austin Jackson-CF, Torii Hunter-RF, and Victor Martinez-DH.

*Tyler Collins isn't on the 40-man roster so a change would need to be made, however it's an easy fix that would only require one of the injured players to be placed on the 60 day disabled list.

Tigers pitchers are: Justin Verlander-RHP, Max Scherzer-RHP, Anibal Sanchez-RHP, Rick Porcello-RHP, Drew Smyly-LHP, Luke Putkonen-RHP, Evan Reed-RHP, Ian Krol-LHP, Phil Coke-LHP, Al Alburquerque-RHP, Joba Chamberlain-RHP and Joe Nathan-RHP.

Remember, there are still a few days to go before Opening Day on March 31 and anything can happen. Thursday morning Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told reporters "We have 25 people, but it's not the official 25 yet. Anything can happen in 48 hours." With only four days to go before Opening Day, any changes made to the roster will need to be made sooner rather than later.