The 40-man roster deadline is Thursday November 20th, but the Indians are expected to announce today (Wednesday) what players will be added to the 40-man roster and protected from the Rule 5 Draft. In the past four years, the Indians have announced the 40-man roster additions on the 19th twice (2004 and 2007), as well as on the 18th once (2005) and on the 20th once (2006). In any case, sometime in the next 36 hours we should know who is rostered and who is not.
Right now, when looking over the 2008 Indians Rule 5 Eligibles list there are many possibilities as to who gets rostered. In recent years, the Indians added three players (2004), five players (2005), two players (2006), and five players (2007) to the 40-man roster in total before the deadline. Knowing this, it seems like the Indians may only roster as many as five players this year. They could go as high as six, but that seems like a reach at this point.
In any case, the five players who look like they will be rostered are: 1B Jordan Brown, OF Trevor Crowe, C Carlos Santana, RHP Hector Rondon, and RHP Jeff Stevens. If they add a sixth player, it should really come down to C/INF/OF Chris Gimenez, LHP Chuck Lofgren, and OF/1B Stephen Head. Other possibilities include RHP Frank Herrmann, RHP Neil Wagner, RHP Randy Newsom, and LHP Ryan Edell.
Some may wonder why teams wait so long to announce these roster additions. There are many reasons for this, but it may quite simply be teams just choose to wait until the last second to roster a player. Since they are getting a long look at most of these roster eligibles in the Arizona Fall League and in the Latin American winter leagues, they likely wait to the last second to make a decision.
Of course, there are also trades being considered, so a team may not want to clog up the 40-man roster until the last second because if they fill it right away and then complete a trade where they send non 40-man prospects for a few players who need added to the 40-man, they then have to turn around and waive a few guys on the 40-man. They ultimately have to do this down the road anyway after the deadline, but again it goes back to the original point where the team may just choose to wait as long as possible in order to avoid making unnecessary moves.
Anyway, hopefully something is announced today, and when it is it should be posted here as soon as possible.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Roster D-Day
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6 comments:
Tony,
do these players who are going to be protected know already or do they find out when we find out?
They find out pretty much when we do. Obviously, just before they release it I am sure the Indians contact them to confirm. But, as of now, none of the players know if they are being rostered.
Once the roster selections become official, I will contact a player or two who I know well and expect to be rostered to see if I can find out when in fact they are notified they are being rostered.
I really hope the Tribe uses all spots available.
To sign a guy like Hoffman or Cruz, I would rather cut ties with a Mujica/ Mastny then risk losing a guy like Lofgren/ Gimenez/ etc.
-mt88
Mike, I agree.
Just going by the Indians past history, I am thinking only five get rostered. Crowe, Santana and Stevens are absolutes, and supposedly from what I have been told Brown is as well. Rondon is the question mark for me as the fifth guy, and I could see a guy like Gimenez slipping in there if need be. If they do roster six, then Gimenez should be the 6th guy.
not to be cold but after lofgren's performance today what is the "excuse" now? he sounded confident and composed in the interview. now it just looks mechanical and not mental.
There are no excuses. The best thing for him is to get some time off and come back re-focused next year. I am still puzzled why he was sent to the AFL this year....
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