Atlanta Braves 40 Man Roster Projections
By Fred Owens
The Atlanta Braves go into the offseason with a need to protect assets from the Rule 5 draft. Today’s promotion of A.J. Minter fills every the last vacant slot leaving the Braves with little wiggle room.
The topic is a hot one for the Atlanta Braves fans because Ronald Acuna is being very rude to AAA pitching and fans want a look at the future. As Alan pointed out this morning the promotion decision will depend on multiple factors that requires more detail.
A new Rule 5 paradigm
A few days ago Cardinals president of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak told Derrick Gould of the St. Louis Post Dispatch times had changed. In the past two seasons the Cardinal lost prospects from the lower minors who were claimed and kept.
"“I think definitely some lessons were learned from the last couple of years. . . We have to understand the playing field has changed. . (now) there is always going to be a team or two that can take . . .a chance. . . go back five, six, seven years ago that wasn’t happening . . . Now people are being more aggressive . . about talent collection.”"
He was talking about the Padres who after throwing money down the drain in 2015 in an attempt to buy wins, took a completely new tack after the 2016 season. They not only drafted Allen Cordoba from the Cardinals with the third pick of the draft, they also traded for the first (Miguel Diaz), second (Luis Torrens) and the eighth (Justin Haley) selections.
Other teams were active as well but the way the Padres attacked the draft was a wake up call to other GMs. Wide awake now we look at the Braves system in relation to Rule 5 players
The players considered
As soon as the World Series ends the disabled list evaporates and players are either on the 40 man roster or they aren’t. The first order of business in this speculative decision exercise is to find out how many spots are needed.
The tweet featured in Alan’s post provides a list of those who are eligible to be claimed under Rule 5. As a reminder here are the criteria.
Players are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft who are not on their major league organization’s 40-man roster and:
- were 18 or younger on the June 5 preceding their signing and this is the fifth Rule 5 draft upcoming; or
- were 19 or older on the June 5 preceding their signing and this is the fourth Rule 5 draft upcoming and
- not be on the team’s 40-man roster
Updated list of Braves players not on 40-man roster, who are newly eligible for Rule 5 draft selection this December. pic.twitter.com/B9tKTGNf4Y
— Brian Crout (@sogobravo) August 9, 2017
The easy choice is any nationally ranked player. Luiz Gohara take one step forward.
Next would come players in our top 30 list – I’ll use MLBPipeline’s list.