So Who Do The Indians Protect?

The Indians 40-man roster is currently at 35 players after Juan Rincon, Scott Elarton and Brendan Donnelly filed for free agency. Sal Fasano is expected to file for free agency in the coming days, which should reduce the roster to 34 players.

The question remains, will anyone else be removed from the roster and will the Indians use all 40 spots to protect players in their minor league system. Eddie Mujica, Tom Mastny, and Andy Marte look like the best options to be removed, but Mastny still has options and has value as a depth reliever so it is very unlikely he is removed. Also, the Indians lost players like Brad Snyder, Brian Bullington, and Reid Santos when trying to sneak them through waivers, and Brian Slocum cleared waivers when he was removed. This was all done over a week ago, which to me implies the roster purge may be over and that everyone that is not a free agent stays on it.

Anyway, when whittling down the Indians 2008 Rule 5 eligibles for consideration to be rostered, here is a listing of the players to pay special attention to and who is lost likely to be rostered to fill the five to seven open spots available before the November 20th deadline, from a lock (100%) to doubtful (25%).

An interesting (IMO) take on the roster decisions Cleveland faces this offseason.