A Not-So-Early Look: Who Should Be Added To The 40-Man Roster This Winter?

 Thanks to Todd Pauette over at Guardians Prospective we have the complete list of the Rule 5 eligibles for this winter.

From this list I can see the following players in contention for being added to the 40 man roster:

Locks

Daniel Espino

Jonathon Rodriguez

Likely To Be Added

Ethan Hankins

May Be Added If Space Permits

Dayan Frias

Tanner Burns

Cade Smith

Bryan Lavastida

Unlikely To Be Added

Jose Devers,

Lenny Torres, Jr.

Daniel Schneeman

Aaron Bracho

Ray Delgado

Korey Holland

Juan Benjamin

Wuilfredo Antunez

Estaban Gonzalez

Alexfri Planez

Anyone else on Todd's list

Summary:

Looking over our 40 man roster I see us having 34 locks to be on the roster this winter unless they are traded:

Pitchers (17): Allen, Bibee, Bieber, Cantillo, Clase, Curry, De Los Santos, Hentges, Herrin, Karinchak,

McKenzie, Morgan, Morris, Quantrill, Sandlin, Stephan, Williams.

Catchers (2): Bo Naylor, Fry

Infielders (10): Arias, Brito, Freeman, Gimenez, Martinez, Josh Naylor, Noel, Ramirez, Rocchio, Tena

Outfielders (5): Brennan, Gonzalez, Kwan, Straw, Valera

Removed from the roster: Laureano, Gallagher, Calhoun, Kelly, Lopez, Moore, Gaddis

Without talking about free agents or trade acquistions, this means we room for 6 players to be added.

From the list above I would likely use 5 of those open spots and add: Espino, Rodriguez, Hankins, Frias and Burns. I am afraid I might lose Smith/Lavastida in the Rule 5 and wonder if Smith and Lavastida are on the upswing or just had their highwater marks this season.  I would rather have Lavastida as my backup catcher going into ST than another Cam Gallagher, however.  Cade Smith is interesting as his stats are eye-popping but I just don't see him as better than Sandlin, although I believe Sandlin is replaceable.   You can't protect everyone but if teams aren't on Smith you leave him exposed.  If they are on him (Tim Herrin last year) you protect him and fill your 40-man.  Clearly you don't want to go into ST with 10 infielders and 6 (counting Rodriguez) outfielders of the quality listed above.  So something needs to shake out over the wnter, to be sure.