The Cubs will have to make wholesale changes in their 40 man protected roster this winter. There are too many "prospects" in the system that will be unprotected unless shifted to the 40 man.
Eligible Minor Leaguers not put on their 40-man roster could be lost via December's Rule 5 Draft.
Players first signed at age 18 must be added to 40-man rosters within five years or they become eligible to be drafted by other organizations through the Rule 5 process. Players signed at 19 years or older have to be protected within four years. Clubs pay $50,000 to select a player in the Rule 5 Draft. If that player doesn't stay on the 25-man roster for the full season, he must be offered back to his former team for $25,000.
When the Cubs began their 2013 campaign, their 40 man roster consisted of:
RHB 12
LHB 8
SHB 1
RHP 15
LHP 5
AVG HT 6-1
AVG WT 204
AVG AGE 27
Youngest 21
Oldest 37
The roster has been changed over time as the Cubs have used more than 52 players this season.
Presently on the disabled list (and not counted in the 40):
Rafael Dolis, Kyjui Fujikawa, Matt Guerrier, Thomas Neal, Zach Putnam, Arodys Vizcaino.
Those on the 40 man roster but still in the Minors:
Brett Jackson, Trey McNutt, Mike Olt, Neil Ramirez, Jorge Soler, Christian Villanueva, Josh Vitters, Matt Szczur
Veterans on the 40 man roster who will be gone by free agency or release at the end of the season:
Scott Baker, Kevin Gregg, Hector Rondon (to minors), J.C. Boscan, Dioner Navarro, Darnell McDonald
Of those on the DL, only Fujikawa and Vizcaino may be protected, but I would not be surprised that the Cubs don't protect Vizcaino because he has not played in 2 years because of injury.
Of those minor leaguers on the 40 man, I would not be surprised that Jackson, McNutt, Vitters and Szczur are left unprotected to open up space for "Theo's guys."
With the six veterans who will be off the roster, and the net 2 DL/minors moves, the Cubs can probably protect only 6 minor leaguers from this list:
Hunter Ackerman, LHP,
Arismendy Alcantara, INF
, Gioskar Amaya, INF
, Jose Arias, RHP,
Frank Batista, RHP,
Xavier Batista, OF
, Dallas Beeler, RHP,
Justin Bour, 1B
, Sergio Burruel, C
, David Cales, RHP,
Esmailin Caridad, RHP,
Marcelo Carreno, RHP
, Lendy Castillo, RHP,
Javier Castro, RHP
, Zach Cates, RHP
, Hunter Cervenka, LHP ,
Pin-Chieh Chen, OF
, Casey Coleman, RHP,
Gerardo Concepcion, LHP
, Willson Contreras, C
, Wes Darvill, INF
, Antonio Encarnacion, RHP
, Luis Flores, C
, Anthony Giansanti, OF,
Micah Gibbs, C
, Enyel Gonzalez, RHP
, Carlos Gutierrez, RHP
, Jae-Hoon Ha, OF,
Marco Hernandez, INF ,
Eric Jokisch, LHP
, Dong-Yub Kim, OF
, Austin Kirk, LHP,
Luis Liria, RHP,
Matt Loosen, RHP
, Jeff Lorick, LHP
, Eric Martinez, RHP
, A. J. Morris, RHP,
Chad Noble, C
, Juan Carlos Paniagua, RHP, Loiger Padron, RHP
, Amaury Paulino, RHP
, Felix Pena, RHP
, Starling Peralta, RHP
, Dae-Eun Rhee, RHP
, Kevin Rhoderick, RHP
, Greg Rohan, INF
, Jose Rosario, RHP,
Victor Salazar, RHP,
Brian Schlitter, RHP,
Ryan Searle, RHP
, Elliot Soto, INF,
Nick Struck, RHP
It also means that the Cubs won't lose that many players from this list since most clubs do not partake in the Rule 5 selection process because it means the selection needs to kept on the 25 man roster for the entire year (like the Cubs did with Lendy Castillo last year and Hector Rondon this year).
Cubs executives have been meeting in Milwaukee which means that they are probably discussing the winter roster moves in secret (away from the office). There are plenty of "old" players who have had their chance who will not be protected (Caridad, Castillo, Cates, Coleman, Schlitter). On the list, there are only a few buzzworthy prospects like Alcantara and Amaya or prospects that we have heard about like Ha, Paniagua, Rhee and Struck.
