Tonight marks the deadline for players to be added to their respective organizations’ 40-man rosters. Over the nine hours, there’ll be a flurry of moves, ranging from minor trades (like the one the Indians and Rays made yesterday), waiver claims and players being designated for assignment or outrighted. Each will be made to clear room for players who need protection from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. As a reminder, players who signed at 18 years of age or younger and have five professional seasons are eligible, as are players who signed at 19 or older and have four professional seasons under their belts.
Here’s a rundown of players who’ve been added to their respective 40-man rosters (which will be updated throughout the day)…
- There are three additions for the Twins: outfielder LaMonte Wade and infielders Nick Gordon and Luis Arraez.
- The Giants announced that they have added a trio of righties: Melvin Adon, Sam Coonrod, and Logan Webb.
- Lefty Justin Steele is now a member of the Cubs‘ 40-man, per an announcement.
- The Rangers announced that they are protecting veteran hurler Edinson Volquez, who’s returning from Tommy John surgery, along with outfielder Scott Heineman, righty Wei-Chieh Huang, and lefty Taylor Hearn.
- Righties Mitch Keller and JT Brubaker, infielder Cole Tucker, and outfielder Jason Martin are all joining the Pirates‘ 40-man, per Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects (via Twitter).
- The Blue Jays will add righty Patrick Murphy to their 40-man, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Toronto has announced his addition, along with those of fellow righties Trent Thornton, Yennsy Diaz, Hector Perez, and Jacob Waguespack.
- Three Indians players have been boosted up to the 40-man, the club announced: first baseman Bobby Bradley, southpaw Sam Hentges, and righty Jean Carlos Mejίa.
- Righty Joe Harvey is joining the Yankees‘ MLB roster, the club announced.
- The Phillies have added shortstop Arquimedes Gamboa along with righties Edgar Garcia and Adonis Medina to the 40-man, per a club announcement.
- Former first-round draft pick Dillon Tate, a right-handed pitcher, was selected to the Orioles‘ 40-man.
Earlier Additions
- The Marlins and Padres each made numerous additions. We covered the Angels and Athletics elsewhere as well.
- The Red Sox have bumped several players onto the MLB roster: infielder Michael Chavis, righties Colten Brewer, Travis Lakins and Denyi Reyes, lefties Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez. Brewer was just picked up via trade.
- Righty Jimmy Herget is the only player added to the Reds‘ 40-man today, per a club announcement.
- Per a Diamondbacks announcement, they’ve selected the contracts of first baseman Kevin Cron and four right-handed pitchers: Taylor Clarke, Joel Payamps, Bo Takahashi and Emilio Vargas.
- There are three new additions to the Astros roster, per a club announcement. Righties Bryan Abreu and Rogelio Armenteros have had their contracts selected along with catcher Garrett Stubbs.
- The White Sox announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Dylan Cease and Jordan Stephens, left-hander Kodi Medeiros and catcher Seby Zavala. Cease, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, joined the Sox in the Jose Quintana trade two years ago. Chicago added Medeiros this summer in the trade that sent Joakim Soria to the Brewers.
- Right-hander Justin Lawrence is being added to the Rockies‘ roster, reports Fancred’s Jon Heyman (on Twitter). The 2015 12th-rounder posted a 2.65 ERA with better than 10 punchouts per nine innings in Class-A Advanced this season — a fine followup to a 1.65 ERA at Class-A in 2017. The club has announced that move, along with the additinos of righty Ryan Castellani infielder Josh Fuentes and outfielder Sam Hilliard.
- The Brewers have selected the contracts of outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. and right-hander Trey Supak, reports Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Stokes hit .233/.343/.430 in 551 PAs as a 22-year-old in Double-A this past season. Supak, acquired from the Pirates three years ago, logged a tidy 2.48 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 137 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2018.
- The Royals selected the contracts of right-handers Josh Staumont, Scott Blewett and Arnaldo Hernandez, per a team announcement. Staumont is among the team’s most promising arms but has plenty of control issues to accompany big strikeout numbers out of the ‘pen. The other two have worked as starters in Double-A.
- The Mariners selected the contract of righty Erik Swanson, whom they acquired from the Yankees as part of last night’s James Paxton trade. The 25-year-old righty posted a 2.66 ERA with a 139-to-29 K/BB ratio across multiple minor league levels in ’18 and could surface as a rotation option for Seattle in 2019.
- The Tigers selected the contract of right-hander Franklin Perez, the team announced. Perez, the top prospect acquired in the Justin Verlander blockbuster, was an easy call to add to the 40-man even after slogging through an injury-ruined season. As Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press wrote in August, Perez missed two-plus months with a lat strain and pitched just 19 1/3 innings before going down for the season with a shoulder injury. Perez is still widely considered to be a premium pitching prospect even after the 2018 injury woes.
- The Nationals announced that righty James Bourque has been added to the 40-man roster. A 14th-round pick in 2014, Bourque moved from the rotation to the ‘pen in 2018 and broke out with a 1.70 ERA, 12.9 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 53 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A.
- The Braves announced that they’ve selected the contracts of catcher Alex Jackson and right-handers Patrick Weigel, Jacob Webb and Huascar Ynoa. Jackson, the No. 6 pick in the 2014 draft, struggled through a miserable 2018 season, but the organization clearly didn’t want to risk losing him. Webb turned in a big season out of the bullpen across two levels, while Weigel, one of the organization’s top arms, should be back from Tommy John in 2019. The 20-year-old Ynoa didn’t post great numbers but was up to 100 mph in velocity this year, per Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs (Twitter link).
I wonder if anyone will be interested in taking Demeritte from the Braves. He can play 2B, 3B and outfield and hits for power.
I’m sure anyone is interested if he’s packaged with the right people. Otherwise, we would have to trade him for another player who once had potential but has been struggling
He meant interested in taking TD in the Rule V draft..
Demeritte wasn’t taken last year, and I honestly don’t think he’ll be taken this year either. He has a little power potential, can play a great 2nd base and multiple positions fairly well, but he has troubles with contact and K’s. I think he gets passed up since he doesn’t have any one skill worth taking up a 25 man spot.
Agreed. If there wasn’t much interest in him last year then I doubt anything would change after he didn’t really show any growth this season. Maybe a team squints and sees a very poor man’s version of Dan Uggla in him but I think he is what he is at this point.
He’s got really good power potential and plays an up the middle position but if he doesn’t get on base and strikes out a third of the time then does it really matter?
I’d like to see the braves go after JT, and throw Jackson and Ynoa in the deal. Clearly they would be extra and not the main chips, but consider them sweeteners to their rich farm system
Not rich*
Buster Posey may be a better choice for a trade.
No he’s older and injured and worse
And the Padres roster still sits at 40 with several worthy candidates still unprotected. Should be an eventful day.
Just curious who you think is worthy. Michael Gettys? Edward Olivares?
With Aj Ellis and Freddy Galvis off the 40 man and Raffy Lopez padres opened 3 40 man spots. Idk who else theyd need to protect.
Well, they just traded Brewer for a player that doesn’t need protection. Down to 39. Olivares is a tough call. He playing so well in winter ball right now. I’m leaning towards him over Gettys. Paddock isn’t on the 40 man yet, along with a handful of other top 15 prospects. I predict a minimum of two Padres lost to the Rule 5 Draft.
i genuinely hope you’re not serious, especially considering yer running around with a padres’ avatar. paddack is by far the most critical one needing to be protected., austin allen and espinoza as well. after that you get into gettys/olivares/avila territory where it is more of a coin flip, i’ll give you that.
That’s kind of where I was going. I was assuming that Paddack etc will be protected and and Olivares is the starting point for the tough decisions.
hopefully figuring he just blanked paddack, otherwise i’m not certain what he was thinking.
ty france was another one of those fringe bubble guys that might not have been protected either, but word is that dennis lin thinks villanueva is going to be sold to japan which could give an outside chance of france nabbing a 40 man spot as well. i highly doubt france winds up on the 40 man even if CV is moved, but that’s another interesting variable to consider.
Now that Lockett has been traded for a 19 year old. I’m thinking possibly one more trade and a couple of outrights, then protect and pray. haha
Its a foregone conclusion paddack espinoza etc would be protected. Idk why that needs to be stated. I figured people like Guerra, Spangenberg, Brewer Wick would be DFAd to clear room. Nice to see padres getting something for them, but wouldnt have been the worst outcome to DFA them.
The question is what to do about the fringe guys.
I mentioned the Ellis Lopez Galvis spots because DFA they wound up going to some of them anyways.
Those three spots went to players on the 60-day DL who had to be added back to the 40-man, Dinelson Lamet, Franchy Cordero, and Clayton Richard.
Toronto is the team that I think should be fearful. They have too many top prospects to protect.
No. No they do not.
Yanks use to have those concerns. I think they are a little safer with less rule 5 players needing protection this year but still have some prospects who they may not want to risk losing to consider.
First off, happy Verlander gets to keep competing for rings. Secondly, damn really, the propects the Tigers got are already injury prone. Someone got fleeced.
Too early to say fleeced, but so far, it’s a huge win for the Astros.
They weren’t winning anything with or without Verlander so even if none of the prospects work out, they still shed the money. A pretty sad way to look at it if you’re a tigers fan but it’s the truth
Tigers didn’t get fleeced because they had no need for verlander
That’s not how it works haha
These six: Ricardo Sanchez, Sam Freeman, Arodys Vizcaino, Darren O’Day, Grant Dayton and Raffy Lopez could all be dropped from the 40-Man without harming the team.
Arodys Vizcaino is a very productive major league reliever with closer experience. Why would he ever be in consideration to be dropped?
Yeah, that previous comment should be ignored. Vizzy has had issues with injuries, but when he’s healthy, he’s a force at the end of the pen..No way he should be just let go, that’s absolutely just dumb as he11
Probably be non tendered based on cost.
I would have much preferred the Braves added Didder (who can play above average defense at multiple positions with plus speed) or Demerritte (defensive flexibility with power and high walk rate) over Jackson. Alex Jackson would need to dramatically improve his defense and offense both to be an Evan Gattis like catcher. Even then he wouldn’t have much use on a national league roster. He is a waste of a slot.
For whatever reason AA is high on Jackson. Nothing I’ve personally seen from Jackson backs up AA’s faith in A-Jax, but he’s certainly more informed and more intelligent than I am..So, I can’t really argue with keeping him, and taking a chance he lives up to the potential AA sees in him…
James Bourque sounds like a guy who should be playing hockey. There was a Pat Bourque who played with the Athletics for a few years in the 70s, but when I hear the name Bourque I think of Ray and, because I grew up a Penguins fan, Phil Bourque a.k.a. “ the ol’ Two-niner”.
I only remember Bourque on those Avalanche super teams battling with the Red Wings.
Which is the better pitcher’s name:
Scott Blewett or Grant Balfour?
Aaron Bummer
As a Husker fan, I always forget about him.
That’s a good choice.
Aaron Bummer and Bob Walk are other ones that come to mind for me
Whoops, I didn’t think my first comment posted so I added another name and I guess the first one posted too
Homer Bailey?
If Homer were his given name, I’d consider it.
Bobby Bradley and Sam Hentges are really the only guys the Indians definitely need to protect, but you could probably make a case for Papi or Kaminsky if you liked either of them enough. I personally like Connor Marabell too.
I have no idea how Eric Stamets has lasted as long on the 40-man roster as he has, so if they go over 40 to protect anyone then I’d have to assume he’d be the first one gone. Hopefully Jon Edwards too.
I’d like to see Papi or Kaminsky succeed but they’re really running out of time…
Papi sure never amounted to much, especially considering when he was drafted.
They protected both Hentges and Bradley
I like Marabell, too.
The White Sox did post the additions on their official website (mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-announce-four-rost…). What’s particularly interesting is that the last paragraph of the press release states, “Following the moves, the White Sox 40-man roster increases to 38.” Everything I have seen thus far, including on their own site, showed their 40-man roster at 35 before these additions. Perhaps there is another transaction pending that has them moving a current player off of the reserve list.
Well, the corresponding move didn’t take long. The White Sox just put Ian Clarkin on waivers and he was claimed by the Cubs. The White Sox reserve list now stands at 38 while the Cubs is full at 40.
While the White Sox did add 4 potentially eligible players for the Rule 5 Draft today it’s interesting that they (thus far) elected not to protect RHP Spencer Adams who was also a member of their top-30 prospect list. Adams was the White Sox second round pick in the 2014 June Rule 4 Draft out of high school and has steadily progressed in their system, finishing the 2018 season at AAA Charlotte. They did something similar last November by not protecting LHP Jordan Guerrero who was not selected by any team in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft. Guerrero stayed with the White Sox and put up some pretty good numbers at Charlotte this past season. Perhaps they will have the same fortune with Adams if he remains with the organization past the winter meetings.
one word fo r the padres..
CHEAP.
So who can I look forward to the Orioles taking first overall??
Bobby Witt jr
I meant in the Rule 5 draft, since the article relates to protecting players.
We had better take Witt Jr. in the Amateur draft.
A lot of time still for someone to emerge but ya Witt looks like the consensus pick. Buxton was the consensus pick over Correa too..
Is Dillion Tate related to Golden Tate?
I think he maybe related to Tatum O’Neil.
what do you think the odds are mariners catcher Joe DeCarlo gets taken in the rule 5 draft since the Mariners left him unprotected?
Leaving Deivi Grullon unprotected is going to end bad for the Phillies.
I like Bourque’s ERA and K/9, but the BB/9 could be in issue. Late inning relievers that walk people don’t have much job security. Sounds like he’s got great stuff, if he can control it.
Still don’t understand why Tyler Alexander was left off the Tigers roster