The Rule 5 draft is over 3 months away, but it never hurts to look ahead.
Here is the current 40 man roster. There will be additions and subtractions before the Rule 5 draft. We will start with the additions.
A player is eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft if he has 3 years of minor league service after being drafted out of college and 4 years of service otherwise. For the Jays who did not select any high schoolers of note in 2004, it essentially means that players drafted in 2004 or earlier may be chosen. The eligible players not presently on the 40 man roster include:
Adam Lind
Curtis Thigpen
Davis Romero
David Purcey
Kyle Yates
Jesse Litsch
Dustin Majewski
Ryan Klosterman
Orlando Trias
Aaron Tressler
Jamie Vermilyea
I see six likely additions to 40 man roster.
As far as subtractions go, this is more difficult to predict. Here are some names currently on the 40 man roster, in no particular order:
Ryan Houston
John Hattig
John-Ford Griffin
Rob Cosby
Chad Mottola
Pete Walker
Brian Tallet.
As well, there are a number of other players, currently on the 25 man roster, whose contracts expire at the end of 2006. Many of them undoubtedly will be back, but some will probably not. At the time of the Rule 5 draft, there may or may not be replacements for those who are leaving.
At first glance, it does not seem that the team will have a problem protecting its key prospects. We will have a look at the 40 man roster again immediately before the Rule 5 draft.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060725134342592