Cleveland Guardians: 3 surprises from aggressive 40-man roster moves

On the organization’s first day as the Cleveland Guardians, the front office got to work, aggressively turning over the team’s 40-man roster ahead of the Rule-5 draft.

In total, the Guardians added 11 players to the roster, while designating seven for assignment.

If you’re unfamiliar, this is a big deal because players on the 40-man roster can’t be exposed to the Rule-5 draft, which takes place Dec. 8. For example, the Guards selected Trevor Stephan last season, because he was left unprotected by the Yankees.

If you draft a player in the Rule-5, they’re automatically added to a team’s 26-man roster. So the then Indians drafted Stephan, paid the Yankees the $100,000 fee (cost of plucking a player from another organization) and then Stephan made the team.

If Stephan didn’t stick, the organization would’ve had needed to waive him. Basically, you can’t draft someone, keep them on the roster for a week and stash them in the minors.

So there was some intrigue regarding the Guardians when it comes to this early part of the transaction season. The front office has been building up the farm system and players selected in 2017 and 2018 will soon be knocking on the door of the big leagues.

Here’s three of the biggest surprises form Cleveland’s 40-man roster decisions.