Burnett and Johnson released, Ryan reassigned to minors

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

April 03, 2016, 7:22am

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The Nationals officially announced their opening day roster, which was reduced to the requisite 25 players after the club released veterans Sean Burnett and Reed Johnson and reassigned Brendan Ryan to the minor leagues.

The 25-man roster essentially was finalized Friday night when the club announced Chris Heisey had secured the final spot on the bench and Blake Treinen would round up the bullpen. But the fates of Burnett, Johnson and Ryan remained somewhat up in the air, with each veteran on minor league contracts at the end of camp.

In the end, Burnett and Johnson were released, allowing each to become a free agent and attempt to sign with other clubs. Ryan, meanwhile, was willing to open the season at Triple-A Syracuse.

It remains to be seen whether Burnett and Johnson will find major league jobs right away. Burnett, who tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings this spring in his attempted return from his second career Tommy John surgery, expressed confidence recently there would be interest in him from other teams and that he was unlikely to wind up in the minors.

Here is the official opening day roster, which will take the field Monday in Atlanta:

CATCHERS (2): Jose Lobaton, Wilson Ramos
INFIELDERS (6): Stephen Drew, Danny Espinosa, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Clint Robinson, Ryan Zimmerman
OUTFIELDERS (5): Bryce Harper, Chris Heisey, Ben Revere, Michael A. Taylor, Jayson Werth
RIGHT-HANDERS (9): Matt Belisle, Shawn Kelley, Jonathan Papelbon, Yusmeiro Petit, Tanner Roark, Joe Ross, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Blake Treinen
LEFT-HANDERS (3): Gio Gonzalez, Oliver Perez, Felipe Rivero