Your 2017 Giants: 40 Man Roster Additions to Protect from Rule 5 Draft

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Catching up on news, the Giants added five players to their 40-man roster.  Per the Giants website, they added five players to protect them from the Rule 5 draft:

• RHP Chase Johnson
• RHP Reyes Moronta
• RHP Dan Slania
• INF Miguel Gomez 
• Infielder-outfielder Orlando Calixte, who they had recently picked up as a free agent

As reported:

Johnson, 24, was rated San Francisco's 18th-best prospect by MLBPipeline.com. He finished 1-4 with a 3.27 ERA and five saves in 24 appearances (seven starts) for Double-A Richmond last season. 

Moronta, ranked 24th among the organization's prospects, struck out 93 batters and walked 20 in 59 innings for Class A Advanced San Jose last season. The 23-year-old went 0-3 with a 2.59 ERA in 60 appearances. 

Slania, 24, performed at three classifications last season: Class A Advanced, Double-A and Triple-A Sacramento. His combined record was 11-8 with a 2.93 ERA in 34 games (16 starts), including 111 strikeouts and 35 walks in 119 2/3 innings. 

Gomez, 23, batted a combined .330 in 109 games at Class A Augusta and San Jose. He totaled 17 home runs and 67 RBIs while compiling an .882 OPS. 

Calixte, 24, performed for Texas' Double-A affiliate and Kansas City's Triple-A outpost last season before the Giants acquired him. He batted a combined .274 with 19 stolen bases in 28 attempts.

These moves filled up the Giants 40-man roster.

ogc thoughts

Interesting that the Giants filled the 40-man roster given that they are expected to make a big move to get a top notch closer and would need a spot for him.  If they sign a free agent, they will need to DFA one of the players on the 40-man or trade him to another team.

Perhaps they are thinking that a trade is much more likely at this moment, with a trade of a bundle of 40-man roster players, starting with Heston and Crick, and perhaps one of the relievers filling the roster right now.   That would clear up some of the logjam that they currently have on the 40-man, which was always on the edge of having to DFA someone interesting during the 2016 season.  And we did end up losing Joe Biagini and Jake Smith during the season (and I believe someone else, but don't recall name).

As I noted in my other post, Johnson and Slania were interesting prospects, and DrB noted in the comments that Gomez was another interesting prospect.  Moronta had interesting stats last season, so I can see why the Giants decided to put him on the 40-man.  Calixte was the surprise, as he did not do that great offensively with Texas and KC, so the Giants must see a lot to like with his defense.  Seems like another Ehire Adrianza type, so it'll be interesting to see if they got Calixte as the replacement for Ehire in our system, as Adrianza has been on the edge of the majors for a number of years now, and had been DFAed twice, but remained with the team, as nobody wanted to take a chance on him before.  With no options, if the Giants feel the need for bats on the bench, they could decide to finally let him go.