With 72 hours to go, Nats facing final roster decisions

They've played only one exhibition game, but the Nationals have no choice but to start thinking seriously about finalizing their opening night roster, which must be submitted 72 hours from now.

In some ways, this is a trickier proposition than it usually is, given the lack of time and lack of performance to make such player judgments. And yet in some ways it's also a simpler task than usual, because they're allowed to keep 30 players on the active roster for the season's first two weeks.

That makes some of those final bullpen and bench decisions much easier, because both candidates for a particular job can often be kept.

"I've got about 28 guys right now out of 30," manager Davey Martinez said Sunday when asked how close he was to setting the final roster. "I think there's a couple that are still on the bubble that we need to figure out. But for the most part, I've got a pretty good idea what I want to do, what we want to do."

The five extra slots figure to be used as followed: three relievers, one catcher and one more position player.

And the primary quality the Nationals are looking for in that final position player may very well be speed. Martinez wants to make sure he's well-equipped to deal with Major League Baseball's new extra-inning rule, in which a runner will automatically be placed on second base to start each half-inning.

"As you all know, we've got to play this extra-inning, man-on-second-base deal," said Martinez, who has openly expressed his disdain for the rule change. "It would be nice to have someone that's got some speed in case you want to pinch-run."

That could bode well for someone like Andrew Stevenson or Emilio Bonifacio, guys who might not otherwise get much playing time but would still serve a function on a 30-man roster.

The Nationals don't have to keep a third catcher, but Martinez has more than once mentioned the desire to use Kurt Suzuki as DH or as a pinch-hitter on days he's not behind the plate. That would seemingly open the door for Raudy Read (who has also been getting work at first base in camp) to make the club.

The relief corps is a bit more muddled at the moment. Five of the 10 spots appear to be locks: Sean Doolittle, Daniel Hudson, Will Harris, Tanner Rainey and the loser of the competition to be No. 5 starter (either Austin Voth or Erick Fedde). The other five spots would be filled from a group that includes veterans Javy Guerra and Kevin Quackenbush, right-handers Aaron Barrett, James Bourque, Kyle Finnegan and Ryne Harper, plus left-hander Sam Freeman.

Wander Suero and Roenis Elías would have almost certainly made the opening night bullpen, but each was only recently cleared to participate in camp and likely needs more time before he's activated.

The roster, of course, will evolve as the season plays out. Two weeks in, it must be pared to 28. Two weeks after that, it must be brought down to 26, where it will remain the rest of the season.

The Nationals will try to make the most of the extra space during this first portion of the schedule.

"We're looking at all kinds of options how we want to set this roster," Martinez said. "It's nice to have to start off with 30 guys for a couple weeks, and then whittle it down to 28. To have the 30 guys to start off is kind of nice. It gives us options."