I read somewhere within the last 18 months that more baseball-related effort gets wasted regarding the Rule 5 Draft than anything else in the sport. Two comments. It was on the Internet, so it has to be true. I haven't made any Fanposts about it since the re-boot, so I'd better quit slacking.

The Rule 5 Draft occurs every December to (largely) help teams that are under-talented add talent from teams that are over-talented. If you want the specifics, AZ Phil is the man. Here you go, on the rules and who we have that will be eligible. http://www.thecubreporter.com/mlb-rule-5-draft

To be spared from the Rule 5 Draft, eligible players have to be added to the 40 Man Roster by November, the month before the draft. In effect, after the deadline, you can't be added until after the draft. This way, teams have a month to 'scout' players eligible on backlogged video, or their in-house milb.com account. As we get closer, I'll update who is available, and who the Cubs might want. For now, though, here are my hunches for our keepers.

There are three lists I will evaluate. One is the 40 Man Roster itself. One is the players eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft of our prospects. One is a pair of special cases.

I will evaluate the players on the traditional School Grade Method.

A- Castro, Rizzo, Samardzija, Garza, Marmol, Soriano, Vizcaino, Soler, Szczur, Jackson, DeJesus, Russell, Wood, Dolis.

B- Barney, Lake, Vitters, W Castillo, Clevenger, Recker, Beliveau Chapman.

There's 22. None easy to argue. The only reason Barney is on the second list is because I wouldn't be surprised to see Theo flip him for a pitcher (if the pitcher merits it).

The C-Grades I will keep, and the re-total.

C- Concepcion, L Castillo, Cabrera, Brigham, Bowden, Rusin, Raley, Volstad, Valbuena, Sappelt, Campana.

Total 33

A few tougher calls there. Concepcion might be gone, but I think a year of adjustment will be permitted, especially since we don't want to infuriate International agents.

D- Just missed the cut, but I can be persuaded.

D LaHair (who I think will be sent to Japan), Camp (could be wrong here, especially if he comes cheap), Germano, Berken, Socolovich, Coleman, Corpas, Cardenas.

E- Not close, Mather, Stewart, Parker, Mateo.

Some of (or many of) the players from D&E might be offered Non-Roster Invites.

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Rule 5 Eligibles

The AZ Phil link above has a list of all eligible. I've trimmed it to under 20, sort of in order of preference, with the three making the cut on top.

Watkins/McNutt/Villanueva

Whitenack/Struck/Peralta/Rosario/Kirk/Batista/Bour/Ridling/Rhee/Rohan/Cervenka/Burgess

With the 3 added to the 40 Man, I'm now at 36.

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Special cases.

Kyler Burke and Matt Spencer used to be hitters. Now they are pitchers. They have been in the minors long enough so that, if not added to the 40 Man, they can become free agents, pure and simple. No Rule 5, just free to go wherever. If the Cubs don't add them to the 40 Man, they can leave to any team they want. I have been led to believe that Kyler Burke's mid-90's fastball is worth adding to the 40 Man, even though nobody knows where it will end up.

So, I have us at 37 going into the Rule 5 Draft. Plenty of room to add one (or two) from the Draft in December. Remember, hey have to stay in the bigs all season on the 25 Man, or they have to be sent through irrevocable Waivers before being returned to their.......

I'm getting ahead of myself. Tell me where I'm wrong on my above list. You've probably seen many of the fringy pitchers more than I have.

By the way, I can't find the Attach Poll anymore. Not sure if it's my Google Chrome, but where it used to be (down by the Publish Button), it isn't anymore. Poor you guys, not getting any more of my snark.

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