MESA, Ariz. — With Opening Day less than a week away, the Cubs’ roster picture is becoming clearer.

Manager Craig Counsell announced Friday morning that Patrick Wisdom would start on the IL and Jameson Taillon would be out until at least mid-April. Additionally, non-roster invitee Dominic Smith opted out of his minor-league deal, per a source, and left-handed pitcher Edwin Escobar was reassigned to minor-league camp, dwindling the spring roster to 35 players.

Of those 35 players, catchers Jorge Alfaro and Joe Hudson have already been informed that they won’t be making the team by Counsell. Right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian will be out until the All-Star break and non-roster invitee David Peralta is returning from offseason elbow surgery and has yet to play in the field in a game. Nick Madrigal is returning from a hamstring injury and Counsell said the hope is he gets in a minor league game on Sunday, but Opening Day is still a question mark.

“We’re gonna have to make a decision on Nick,” Counsell said. “It’s close. We’ll just see how the next couple of days progress.”

That means 28 players are competing for the Opening Day 26-man roster and 29 players if you include Madrigal. Two of those players are non-roster invitees Carl Edwards Jr. and Garrett Cooper. The Cubs currently have a full, 40-man roster, but will have one open spot when Kilian is placed on the 60-day IL. Cooper would be a natural replacement for Wisdom, but the conundrum the Cubs face with their 40-man roster is real.

In a perfect world, they can create a second spot and add both players, but the Cubs are looking at the situation much like a trade — would they exchange one of those players on the 40-man roster for Cooper or Edwards? In the Wisdom/Cooper situation, if Wisdom is out for a minimum stay, do you make a 40-man move that could create some roster redundancy?

With four days left in camp, those are the questions the Cubs face before they board a charter to Texas.

Suzuki stays red-hot

Seiya Suzuki continued his impressive spring, hitting a 1^st-inning grand slam off Logan Webb at Scottsdale Stadium. The Cubs scored 9 runs off Webb in the 1^st inning, capped by Suzuki’s blast.

He added a single and is hitting .469 this spring with a 1.514 OPS in 35 plate appearances. He has 4 home runs and 5 doubles this spring.

“I’ve seen enough this spring. Head to Texas,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said with a smile on Thursday. “He looks great. Looks like he did in the second half of last year.”

Next Up

The Cubs will host the Brewers on Saturday at Sloan Park with Ben Brown getting the start at 3 p.m.