NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Opening Day is still a little more than two weeks away. But the Braves already have a pretty good idea of who will fill nearly all of their bullpen spots.

“The long guys and the multiple-inning guys, we’re still discussing that,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We’ll let everything play out. But we came in knowing who probably six of the guys were going to be. Nothing has changed. But there’s still a couple of spots that we’ll evaluate.”

Closer Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter, Joe Jiménez, Pierce Johnson and Aaron Bummer are virtual locks to fill five of the eight bullpen spots. Each of these relievers will be on the Opening Day roster barring injury.

Jiménez logged a scoreless two-thirds of an inning and one strikeout in the Braves' 10-3 loss to the Orioles on Saturday afternoon at CoolToday Park.

The top candidates for the final three bullpen spots are Tyler Matzek, Dylan Lee, Jackson Stephens and possibly Reynaldo López. Matzek and Lee really just have to prove they are healthy and ready to be consistently effective once the season starts.

Matzek didn’t make his scheduled appearance against the Orioles on Saturday because of some tightness around his left rib cage. He wanted to pitch, but the Braves chose to be cautious. As long as this isn’t a lingering issue, the left-handed reliver could certainly be in Atlanta’s bullpen on Opening Day.

The good news is Matzek hasn’t had any arm issues as he completes his recovery from the Tommy John surgery he underwent in October 2022.

“He’s been good from what we’ve seen,” Snitker said. “He hasn’t led anybody to believe he’s not going to be ready.”

Snitker was also encouraged by what he saw from Lee, who was consistently pumping 91 mph fastballs during a scoreless appearance against the Pirates on Friday. This similar to the velocity he showed in 2022, when his four-seam fastball averaged 92.1 mph. The southpaw dealt with shoulder issues most of last year and underwent a cleanup procedure in October.

If Matzek and Lee are both on the Opening Day roster, Snitker will begin the season with four left-handed relievers. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing when opening the season against Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and the Phillies.

Matzek and Lee will tell the Braves if they are ready via their performances over the next couple weeks. The decision about López’s role might be more objective.

There’s no doubt López could be a great weapon out of the bullpen. But while competing with Bryce Elder for the rotation’s fifth spot, he has also shown how valuable he could be as a starter.

If the Braves have López begin the season as a reliever, they may be hesitant to try to stretch him out again if necessary in the middle of the regular season. So, it might make sense to have him log innings as a starter during the season’s first few months and then transition to a reliever.

López hasn’t thrown more than 66 innings in a season since 2019. So, if he’s utilized as a starter, the Braves would need to be careful with both his workload and Chris Sale’s. Sale hasn’t thrown more than 102 2/3 innings in any season since '19.

Having to simultaneously limit the workloads of two starters could adversely affect the bullpen. Regardless, the Braves will need some multi-inning options and at least one guy capable of providing the value Jesse Chavez and Michael Tonkin did as the club’s long reliever over the past few seasons.

Stephens currently seems to be the top candidate to fill that role. But that list of candidates could grow as other teams start letting players go during the final days of Spring Training.

“You never know,” Snitker said. “Somebody might make our club who isn’t even in our camp right now. That happens every year. You never plan for that. I love everybody that we have here.”