It's 40-man roster time

Ok, its November, the WS is over, and it's time to fill the 40-man roster.  Today we will analyze what the Indians will do.

Here is how the Indians should populate their 40-man roster and who should be removed and added and who should stay (NOTE: The Indians have already made several moves, all of which I would have made, to remove guys from their roster; TODAY THEY MADE MORE: SEE ALL CAPS BELOW):

Pitchers (20 including adding 5 and removing 2 in addition to the 2 already removed) :
Nick Hagadone (add)
Paulo Espino (add)
Josh Judy (add)
Vinnie Pestano (current)
Josh Tomlin (current)
Frank Herrmann (current)
Jeanmar Gomez (current)
Fausto Carmona (current)
Carlos Carrasco (current)
Chris Perez (current)
David Huff (current)
Jensen Lewis (current)
Justin Masterson (current)
Rafael Perez (current)
Tony Sipp (current)
Hector Rondon (current)
Mitch Talbot (current)
Jess Todd (current)
Aaron Laffey (current - hold spot for acquistion of starting pitcher)
Zach McAllister (add)

Joe Smith (trade or remove)
Justin Germano (trade or remove)
Anthony Reyes (already removed)
Hector Ambriz (already removed)

Catchers (2):
Carlos Santana
Lou Marson

Luke Carlin (already removed)
Chris Gimenez (already removed)

Infielders: (8, including 3 added and 4 removed)
Matt LaPorta (current)
Asdrubal Cabrera (current)
Jason Donald (current)
Luis Valbuena (current - keep until sign 3B stopgap)
Josh Rodriguez (add)
Jerad Head (add)
Jared Goedert (add)
Jayson Nix (keep as roster insurance)

Wes Hodges (remove) NOTE: HE WAS REMOVED
Carlos Rivero (remove) NOTE: HE WAS REMOVED
Drew Sutton (remove) NOTE: HE WAS REMOVED
Andy Marte (remove) NOTE: HE WAS REMOVED

Outfielders: (7 - add none, remove 2)
Grady Sizemore (current)
Michael Brantley (current)
Jordan Brown (current)
Shin-Soo Choo (current)
Trevor Crowe (current)
Nick Weglarz (current)
Ezequiel Carrera (current - hold if need a roster spot)

Chad Huffman (remove) NOTE: HE WAS REMOVED
Shelley Duncan (remove)

Designated Hitter (1)
Travis Hafner

That gives us 38 and allows us some flexibility if we want to add someone in the Rule 5 draft AND we have some flexibility (Valbuena and Laffey) if we add a starting pitcher and stop-gap thirdbaseman.  At the same time, we remove dead wood from the roster and protect "B" prospects who might not be better than the deadwood, but who deserve a chance to show what they have.

The significant guys who become Rule 5 eligible from these moves are: Rivero (LOST ON WAIVERS TO PHILLY, HEY, YOU CAN'T WAIT FOREVER FOR A GUY TO DEVELOP), Matt McBride, Connor Graham, Adam Miller, Ambriz.

The guys who can become  minor league free agents from this are: Huffman, Duncan, Sutton, Hodges, Germano, Joe Smith, Marte, Anthony Reyes, Chris Gimenez, Jose Constanza.   The goal would be to re-sign Hodges, Germano and Gimenez and trade all or most of the rest of these guys we still have under control before November 20th.   If we re-sign any of these guys, they become Rule 5-eligible at that point.

This is just my take but it is time this roster is turned over.  It is also time we went out on the limb with some of our young guys.  I know it is like a mantra to me but, darn, I dont' want to see any more of guys like Sutton, Huffman, Duncan, Anderson Hernandez, Grudz, Redmond, Kearns, etc. here UNLESS they are on exclusively minor league deals.  It is time we populated this roster with, AND used, guys like Josh Judy and Jess Todd.