Adonis Medina to be added to Phillies 40-man roster prior to Rule 5 Draft deadline

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Adonis Medina is one of the consensus Phillies top five prospects

All teams in Major League Baseball have until 8:00PM EST on Tuesday, November 20 to set their 40-man roster in anticipation of the Rule 5 Draft, which will take place on December 13.

Players who were signed when they were 19 years or age or older and have played in professional baseball for four years are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft, as are players who were signed at 18 and have played for five years. All players on an MLB team’s 40-man roster, regardless of other eligibility factors, are “protected” and ineligible for the Rule 5 Draft.

The Philadelphia Phillies are in as good shape as any team in the game right now in this regard. The Phillies currently have 34 players on their official roster. The club will definitely be adding one of their top prospects, pitcher Adonis Medina, prior to the deadline.

With the other five spots there are a number of options. The Phillies could simply protect five more of their own prospects. They could also trade with other teams who might be having difficulty cutting down to their own 40-man limit.

If the Phillies do choose to protect more players, the most likely would probably be pitcher Tom Eshelman and infielders Arquimedes Gamboa and Daniel Brito.

One player who could find himself getting moved before the deadline is Cory Spangenberg of the San Diego Padres. A versatile player, the 27-year-old appeared in 49 games at second base and 44 at third base, with another handful of appearances in left field this past season with the Padres. He even made a cameo in one game at shortstop.

Spangenberg hit .264 with 13 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 486 plate appearances as a regular for San Diego in the 2017 campaign. He made $1.7 million this past season and is arbitration eligible now during this current off-season.

The Phillies might be attracted to Spangenberg’s positional versatility on the infield if the price is right in exchange. About the only sure thing in the Phillies 2019 infield at this point is Scott Kingery, but will he end up at second base or return to shortstop?

Various rumors have the Phillies moving on from Carlos Santana, Cesar Hernandez, and Maikel Franco. The team could include J.P. Crawford in any trade. They also remain a leading contender to sign free agent shortstop Manny Machado.

Adding someone such as Spangenberg as an infield backup might make it easier to deal a couple of those veterans as the Phillies sort out their 2019 starting infield.

Odubel Herrera is Just What the Rangers Are Looking For

I’m not usually one for creating random trade speculation out of thin air, but the Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers are making it difficult on me.

The Rangers reportedly are in the market for a center fielder. Yet those same reports are that the club does not want to spend big in free agency.

What the Rangers would like to obtain is a talented, controllable center fielder. Enter the Phillies into this conversation – they have one.

Phillies Looking at Tyler Goeddel in Rule 5 Draft

The Philadelphia Phillies are looking closely at outfielder Tyler Goeddel in preparation for the MLB Rule 5 Draft.

Selected by the Tampa Bay Rays as the 41st overall selection in the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft out of Mountain View High School in Georgia, Goeddel signed as an 18-year old, and thus became a free agent following five minor league seasons after which he was not included on the Rays’ 40-man roster.

Goeddel was originally a third baseman, playing the hot corner as he rose through the Tampa minor league system over his first three seasons. The Rays decided to move him to the outfield a year ago.

A superb athlete with good speed, a strong arm, and a quick bat, there has been somespeculation that Goeddel was rushed at the outset of his development when the Rays started the teenager at Low-A Bowling Green in 2012, an uncommonly aggressive move by the usually conservative Tampa organization.