The deadline to add minor leaguers to the 40-man roster in order to protect them for the upcoming Rule 5 draft is the 20th, and Jay Yencich posted his candidates to be added over at USS Mariner earlier today.  I posted my candidates back on October 31st, so as a way of (re)bringing your attention to the matter I thought we’d compare and discuss.

Yencich’s candidates include OF Ezequiel Carrera, RHP Dan Cortes, RHP Ricky Orta, LHP Edward Paredes, OF Carlos Peguero, C Travis Scott and RHP Anthony Varvaro.  He adds that he thinks the first five names (Carrera through Peguero) have the best chance of being added.

There was obviously some overlap on our lists as I also pegged Carrera, Varvaro and Orta as strong candidates to be added.  Let’s talk about the discrepancies.

Cortes was simply a miss by me.  I forgot to check out his situation, probably because he wasn’t part of the 2009 Seattle Mariners media guide that I was using as my primary reference.  He is definitely a guy worth protecting as some team– especially a rebuilding team– could get by stashing him in the bullpen for a season before allowing him to continue his development the next season a la the Twins and Johan Santana.

Paredes is a guy that I had on my original draft, but decided to cut him at the last minute for whatever reason.  He’s somewhat comparable to Jose Lugo, one of Seattle’s 2009 Rule 5 picks.  Paredes doesn’t have much high-minors experience but he throws left handed and can get lefties out, which is enough to give him a good shot at a big league career as a LOOGY.  You may recall that Lugo was one of the last cuts for the Mariners last spring, and I can see Paredes finding himself in a similar situation if he goes unprotected.  He’s worth adding if there’s room, but I’d have a hard time keeping him over any the right handed relievers that appeared on both lists.

Cortes and Paredes I can concede– good calls by Yencich.  I disagree with the inclusions of Peguero and Scott (though they were also on my original draft).

Considering Yencich’s own description of Peguero, I can’t imagine why he’d get any consideration.  Lefty power to go along with tons of strikeouts and very few walks.  He’s repeated the California League but his 2009 home/away splits show that he still hasn’t figured the league out.  Yencich is also, in my opinion, very generous with his defensive appraisal.  Most scouting reports that I can recall list him as a future DH or 1B rather than an OF.  I haven’t seen him play defense, but he is big and slow in the batting video I’ve seen of him and I can’t imagine he’d be able to hold his own out there in today’s game.  But whether or not Peguero has a future in the big leagues is beside the point.  Who is going to take this guy and keep them on their active roster for an entire season?  He brings zero value to big league teams.  He can’t hit, he can’t pinch run, he can’t be considered a late inning defensive substitution– what do big league teams do with this guy?  I don’t see him going anywhere.  Maybe he’s picked, but he’d almost certainly be returned.

Scott is another guy that I have a hard time seeing get picked, though I did give him some thought.  He had some intriguing numbers in High Desert this past season, but he’ll be 25 next season, has played at the level for three years now and has dealt with some health problems.  Is there a team out there willing to give a backup catcher position to someone who has yet to step foot on a AA field?  It’s not quite like giving the 4th outfielder spot or long reliever position to someone, the backup catcher is going to be starting on a semi regular basis.  I can’t see any team giving Scott that job next season.  Last year there were two catchers taken in the Rule 5.  Neither Lou Palmisano nor James Skelton made their new clubs.  Palmisano was offered back, the offer was declined, was assigned to the minors, declined the assignment and became a free agent. A trade was worked out to keep Skelton with his new team in the minor leagues.  Also, for what it’s worth, Prospect Insider’s Jason Churchill recently opined that Scott’s “absolute ceiling is as an emergency guy.”

Now for the players I had but Yencich didn’t include.  I included Michael Pineda and JC Ramirez in my list.  These two players were mentioned (along with Alex Liddi) in Yencich’s intro as players who signed “contracts in ’05, but for the ’06 season.”  No, they didn’t play in 2005, but my understanding was that it didn’t matter.  Cot’s Baseball Contract’s transaction glossary, which isn’t official by any means but is typically pretty reliable, states:

After 4 or 5 years as a professional, a player must be added to his club’s 40-man roster or exposed to the 29 other clubs in the Rule 5 draft. (A club has 5 years to evaluate a player who signs his first pro contract at 18 years old or younger, but only 4 years to decide on a player who signs at age 19.) For purposes of calculating years as a pro, the counting begins the day a player signs his first pro contract, not the season he begins to play.

Pineda is an odd case because he signed in December, but Ramirez signed on July 2nd.  I think he’s eligible, but we’ll find out soon enough.