Do we really have a Roster Crunch?

[MongoLikeSox]

The roster crunch we had last year was a whole lot of poor planning, upside down roster building and too many projects. I hope this year is different. Note that we are currently at 44 players on the 40-man Roster due to injury exceptions expiring. We will be down to 38-39 players in very short order.
The start of the Hot Stove season begins an a few days. Here's what's on tap.

• 3 players automatically become Free Agents today.
• Trade Market opens today.
• 3 additional players will likely become free agents after club and player options are not exercised by Nov 7th.
• Free Agency Signing officially starts in 5 days.
• Qualified Offers period ends on 11/14. We have no horses in this race.
• November 15th (earlier than it used to be.) Last day to protect rule-5 eligible players.
• November 17th is the Non-Tender deadline. We have lots of potential horses in this race. Especially if we really want to improve the team of mediocre ballplayers.
• Somewhere in this mess of dates is the date that all MLB teams must be down to a maximum of 40 players on their 40-man rosters. It can be lower, but can only be higher with subsequent offsetting moves within just a few days. No injury exceptions until opening day

Sox Prospects.com lists 68 prospects eligible for the Rule-5 drafts. (MLB and MiLB phases) We don't have a whole lot to worry about this year. The one clear favorite to protect is Wikelman Gonzalez. I think Song, Gambrell and Drohan round out the pitchers we're considering. It might be a stretch to think any of them could make a team on opening day, including Wikelman. Position players of the future are all at least a level too low. Brainer Bonaci fits that list. but who knows with the GMs all trying to land a low-risk big fish. Christian Koss could make a roster as a role player, but I don't know if the Sox brass care enough about him to burn a 40-man spot. It's not a very deep list, IMHO. At least not for the MLB phase.

How many we can protect really matters on how many guys we non-tender and how successful we are in early Free Agency. It can also depend on how many we think we are going to sign, but is less certain by that point. We CAN protect too many and risk having to DFA someone we would have probably been able to otherwise keep. We straddled that line all of last off season. Don't get me started. It's good to have space should the right Free Agent or trade scenario pop up. Save the dumpster diving for late January Spring Training invitees. Throw a few extra bucks around and lie about the opportunities like everyone else does.  thumb_u

Did I miss anyone else near ready and exposed in the upcoming Rule-5?
Who's on your list of non-tenders and/or trade bait?

[Sea Dog 23]

The roster crunch we had last year was a whole lot of poor planning, upside down roster building and too many projects. I hope this year is different. Note that we are currently at 44 players on the 40-man Roster due to injury exceptions expiring. We will be down to 38-39 players in very short order.
The start of the Hot Stove season begins an a few days. Here's what's on tap.

• 3 players automatically become Free Agents today.
• Trade Market opens today.
• 3 additional players will likely become free agents after club and player options are not exercised by Nov 7th.
• Free Agency Signing officially starts in 5 days.
• Qualified Offers period ends on 11/14. We have no horses in this race.
• November 15th (earlier than it used to be.) Last day to protect rule-5 eligible players.
• November 17th is the Non-Tender deadline. We have lots of potential horses in this race. Especially if we really want to improve the team of mediocre ballplayers.
• Somewhere in this mess of dates is the date that all MLB teams must be down to a maximum of 40 players on their 40-man rosters. It can be lower, but can only be higher with subsequent offsetting moves within just a few days. No injury exceptions until opening day

Sox Prospects.com lists 68 prospects eligible for the Rule-5 drafts. (MLB and MiLB phases) We don't have a whole lot to worry about this year. The one clear favorite to protect is Wikelman Gonzalez. I think Song, Gambrell and Drohan round out the pitchers we're considering. It might be a stretch to think any of them could make a team on opening day, including Wikelman. Position players of the future are all at least a level too low. Brainer Bonaci fits that list. but who knows with the GMs all trying to land a low-risk big fish. Christian Koss could make a roster as a role player, but I don't know if the Sox brass care enough about him to burn a 40-man spot. It's not a very deep list, IMHO. At least not for the MLB phase.

How many we can protect really matters on how many guys we non-tender and how successful we are in early Free Agency. It can also depend on how many we think we are going to sign, but is less certain by that point. We CAN protect too many and risk having to DFA someone we would have probably been able to otherwise keep. We straddled that line all of last off season. Don't get me started. It's good to have space should the right Free Agent or trade scenario pop up. Save the dumpster diving for late January Spring Training invitees. Throw a few extra bucks around and lie about the opportunities like everyone else does.  thumb_u

Did I miss anyone else near ready and exposed in the upcoming Rule-5?
Who's on your list of non-tenders and/or trade bait?

Mongo, it was pointed out elsewhere that the Cubs management would keep several of their young pitchers off of Rule 5  because of Breslow.  I've lost track of Noah Song's protocol, but he seemed to have a real nose-dive late in his minor league season.

[MongoLikeSox]

Mongo, it was pointed out elsewhere that the Cubs management would keep several of their young pitchers off of Rule 5  because of Breslow.  I've lost track of Noah Song's protocol, but he seemed to have a real nose-dive late in his minor league season.

Song did indeed have a bad ending to his being ramped up to starter's innings in A+. I looked it up. He had a rough start in his next to last game followed by a 2/3's inning disaster which included 3 walks and 36 pitches. Before the last tow starts, it had been going well enough in the short amount of time he had to focus on starting. He had ramped up to 70+ pitches with the bulk of the damage happening during one of the ramp-up games. The Phillies' play for him cost him a good bit of development time.

Me, I'm protecting him for the MLB phase. Not so much because another team will snag him, but because the potential prize is still too big. I would not feel that way if a full developmental season was disappointing. 

I missed the Cubs having to protect a few guys because of Breslow's knowledge. My initial reaction would be to think that Breslow going after one of them based on inside intel and how he got the intel would be sort of a d-move.