The 40-Man Dilemma - Part II

As I noted in my post yesterday, the Astros 40-Man Roster is full to overflowing at this point.  I included the stats for those players (all pitchers) on the 40-Man who weren't on the active roster at season end.  Today I will post stats for both pitchers and position players who will be eligible in the Rule 5 draft this December.  I am using the list established by farmstros as I only researched those players who will be newly eligible this year.

First the pitchers:


And now the position players:


Of these players, I think most of us will agree that Paul Clemens and Kody Hinze should probably be protected.  Clemens numbers are inflated by a really bad outing in OKC in which he gave up 8 runs over 4.2 innings.  At Corpus, he posted a 2.35 ERA over 5 starts.  Kody Hinze, of course, opened a lot of eyes this season with a .306 BA and 29 homeruns.  He would only be subject to the AAA phase of the draft, and I'm sure some team would be happy to keep him on their AAA club for the season.

But another player I would protect is Dayan Diaz.  He would be subject to the AA phase of the Rule 5 draft and it would only cost $4000 for some team to put him on their AA roster for the year.  Not only did Diaz have a terrific season, he also was named as a Baseball America short-season All-Star so he is definitely on the radar.

It will be interesting to see the choices that are made over the next few weeks as the deadline for finalizing rosters approaches.

In case you missed it, here is the information on how the Rule 5 draft works.