First, as I previously posted, the 40 man roster decisions were pretty easy for the Indians. Adding Chang, Castro and Merryweather were no brainers. Leaving off Papi, Nellie Rodriguez and Rob Kaminsky were no brainers, either. Papi has been mediocre his who career, Rodriguez regressed dramatically last year and is a tough fit as a RH first baseman. Kaminsky was hurt all year.
Adding Eric Stamets to the roster is a bit of a surprise. His surprising power surge this year may have accounted for his addition. Adding Rob Refsnyder on waivers is also a bit of a surprise.
Regarding the Rule 5 draft that is built off the prospects teams don't put on their 40 man rosters at this time of year, look for the Indians not to lose anyone with the exception of maybe Kaminsky in the ML portion of the draft, although it is a pretty good shot that Kaminsky will get drafted by some team. They may or may not draft a guy in ML portion and are likely not to, given their very low slot in the Rule 5 draft. That being said, Anthony Santander, a good Indians prospect, made it until the second round of the ML portion last year so the Indians could still find a hidden gem near the end of the first round. Looking at the lack of even fringe Indians prospects who are Rule 5 eligible and the size of the Columbus reserve list, I don't see the Indians losing guys in the minor league portion, either. Since the Indians have not been major players in selecting guys in the minor league portion of the Rule 5, I see the entire Rule 5 draft to be very quiet vis-à-vis the Indians, with the exception of maybe losing Kaminsky.
DFAing Kyle Crockett is no surprise as he has lost favor within the organization since his uber-successful ML debut in 2015. Ditto for DFAing Dylan Baker as he has pitched great but has almost always been hurt since he was drafted. I think Crockett will find work elsewhere but I hope the Indians re-sign Baker. If they sign either of these guys to minor league deals in the next few weeks they would be eligible for the Rule 5 draft with a high likelihood, I think, of them being selected by another club. So, if we re-sign them, look for it to be after January 1st.
Regarding 6 year minor league free agents who were in the Indians organization last year, Ronny Rodriguez and Tim Cooney are the most intriguing for the Indians. Cooney was actually in the Indians' top 30 prospects last winter but barely got on the mound for the AZL Indians at the end of this season after being out with an arm injury most of the year. Rodriguez has shown his versatility and a little pop at AAA but the Indians letting him go, adding Stamets to the roster and protecting catcher Eric Haase from 6 year minor league free agency by adding him to the 40 man says the Indians don't think Rodriguez has a future with this club. Other notables who became minor league free agents were Joe Colon, Michael Martinez, Adam Moore and Chris Narveson (all with previous ML experience) and minor league fringe prospects Luis Lugo, Luigi Rodriguez and Jeff Johnson. All of these guys might end up in the big leagues at some point but there are many more like these guys from other clubs who just became minor league free agents. The Indians will re-sign a few of these guys and sign some other guys. Frankly, the Indians have not really done well finding hidden gems or guys they can develop in these career minor leaguers so let's hope they have someone really good (like the guy(s) who suggested signing Dan Otero) analyzing these lists and they come up with some help for the big league club in 2018 from other teams' discards.
art here...Though I wouldn't have put Papi on the 40 man roster I wouldn't be surprised to see him selected based on the combination of some power plus the great walk rate. He also doesn't really strike out that much either, so I look for someone to take a look at him too.
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