Now that free agency is officially under way, the next important thing for teams to sort out in baseball’s offseason is which minor league players will be added to the 40-man roster to protect them from this year’s Rule 5 draft. The deadline for teams to add new players to keep them out of the draft is Monday. The Orioles have between now and then to figure out who they want to keep other teams from swiping from them.
Players who are newly-eligible for the Rule 5 draft this year are, generally, 2018 international (July 2, now January 15) signings, 2019 high school draft picks, and 2020 college draft picks or undrafted free agents signed after that shortened raft.