Do the 40-Man Shuffle!

In Indians transaction news -

• Options picked up for Byrd, Borowski and Fultz. These were all pretty much no-brainers. Borowski is cheap for a closer at $4 million, even if his saves induce stress. Fultz, at $1.5 million, can be jettisoned like Oldberto Hernandez if he tanks - it's a good bullpen depth option for the Tribe, especially if he reverts to his form at the beginning of last season, when he was actually pretty good. Byrd - well, despite the HGH stuff, a #4 pitcher at $7.5 million is a bargain for a team like the Tribe.
• So long Luis Rivas and Matt Miller. Miller was released. Rivas was outrighted to Buffalo. Rivas opted for free agency. Mike Koplove was outrighted to Buffalo as well and taken off the 40-man roster.
• The Trotster, K-Love and Chris Gomez have filed for free agency. It is highly unlikely the Tribe will offer arbitration to any of them.

So, all this leaves the 40-man roster at 34 players. Everyone is paring their rosters to prepare for the upcoming Rule 5 minor league draft.

According to Tony Lastoria, here are the guys who are currently eligible for the draft on December 6, 2007:

• Barton, Brian D
• Bunkelman, Cody R
• Burton, TJ J
• Butia, Mike W
• Buzachero, Bubbie D
• Camacaro, Armando J
• Cevette, Dan E
• Constanza, Jose G
• Cooper, Jason M
• Cumberbatch, Cirilo E
• De La Cruz, Christopher A
• Finegan, Brian J
• Gimenez, Chris P
• Goleski, Ryan S
• Haad, Yamid
• Harris, Jeffrey A
• Hoyman, Justin K
• Larkin, Shaun M
• Lewis, Scott E
• Miller, Adam W
• Mulhern, Ryan T
• Newsom, Randy
• Niesel, Christopher W
• Nottingham, Shawn M
• Panther, Nathan E
• Perdomo, Luis M
• Pesco, Nick J
• Pinckney, Brandon M
• Riera, Jorge
• Roehl, Scott D
• Romero, Niuman J
• Rundles, Richard L
• Santos, Reid G
• Sipp, Tony M
• Smith, Sean H
• Southerland, Chip F
• Tavarez, Argenis F
• Toregas, Wyatt R
• Valdes, Juan M
• Valdez, Luis C
• Wallace, David H
• Whitney, Matthew J

Protecting Adam Miller, Tony Sipp and Scott Lewis is pretty much a given. Most likely Brian Barton gets 40-man status as well. That leaves two spots up in the air for the likes of Sean Smith, Toregas, Cumberbatch and Santos. Some team might take a chance of Whitney - guys with power potential don't grow on trees, but most likely his injury history will scare most teams off. Goleski is pretty much blocked, and I don't think the Indians would mind if another team took him off their hands. Another team might also take a chance on a career minor leaguer like Jason Cooper for outfield depth. Overall, it is highly unlikely that the Indians will lose someone that they are seriously counting on for the future in this year's draft.