The deadline for the December 8th rule 5 draft was last night and the Indians made a couple moves in preparation. Danny Salazar, Juan Diaz and Scott Barnes were added to the 40 man roster and Luis Valbuena designated for assignment. Some high risk players that have been left off the protected list are Jared Goedert, Beau Mills, Trevor Crowe and obviously Valbuena. None of these players are really integral to the future of the Cleveland Indians, but I would have liked to see them protect Mills, who is an option at first base as early as next season. The majority of the players currently on the 40 man played for the Indians at some point in time last season and most spent some time in a starting role due to the many moves and injuries. This means there are a lot of protected players who don’t have defined roles with the team and could very well be released before next season starts. In order to keep a player drafted during the rule 5 draft, the new team has to keep the player on the 25 man roster for the entire season or offer to sell him back to his original team. Because of this, most players below AAA are safe. In recent seasons the Indians haven’t had any steals or really gotten burned by this draft, so it will be interesting to see if something happens this year in the rule 5 draft.
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