Decision day

Today is the day the 40-man roster has to be set for the Rule 5 draft, and the Pirates have some decisions to make. Thankfully, we found out last week that Rudy Owens, Starling Marte, and Diego Moreno are not eligible for this year’s draft, thanks to the weird vagaries of the CBA involving the dates these guys signed and the old draft and follow rule (Jen Langosch did a great job running this down earlier in the month).

Still, the Pirates have two roster spots open and a number of guys to protect today. Tim at Pirate Prospects has a nice breakdown of who’s eligible and he and WTM give their recommended moves and you should go check their post out now. Obviously, both Jeff Locke and Danny Moskos have to be added to the roster (Moskos would be almost certain to be picked if left unprotected and since he’s still got a future as a useful reliever, it’d be a mistake to let him walk for nothing) and a few other guys (Eric Fryer, Tony Watson, Nathan Adcock) are fringe cases that I’m not sure would stick even if drafted. 

Perhaps it’s easier to ask who the Pirates will remove from the roster, and then work backwards. I don’t see much of a use for Delwyn Young, Argenis Diaz, or Brian Burres at this point, and all three could go off the roster today without being missed (there are a few more that could go without being missed, but those are the first three I’d take off).  If you assume that Huntington will want to keep a roster spot open to make a Rule 5 pick (he’s made one every year and two have stuck), that leaves two extra spots. Watson should probably get one, though I’m not entirely sure it’s necessary to protect Fryer (who’s a catcher that hasn’t played past Bradenton) or Adcock (who likewise hasn’t played past Bradenton). I might protect Michael Crotta over either one of them, simply because there’s a chance he’d get drafted as a guy that pitched in Triple-A last year. Jim Negrych might get some looks from teams looking for a utility guy to make the team out of camp, but without much glove or power I don’t know that there’s much of a risk of him sticking with a club if he gets drafted. 

In any case, it’s not a huge decision now that Owens and Marte and Moreno don’t need protected and there’s room for Locke and Moskos. We’ll know who makes the roster and who’s no longer a Pirate by the end of the day, though.