4 Rule 5 candidates the Cardinals should add to the 40-man roster

Every December, Major League Baseball holds a Rule 5 Draft. The rules for eligibility are quite simple, actually.

For players who were signed at age 18 or younger, they need to be added to their club's 40-man roster within five seasons or they're eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players signed at age 19 or older must be protected within four seasons. For those players who aren't protected, they become eligible in the Rule 5 Draft. Players chosen in this draft must be added to their new team's 26-man roster or their rights will revert back to their previous team.

MLB teams use the Rule 5 Draft for a variety of reasons; some players, including Ryan Pressly, Anthony Santander, and Garrett Whitlock most recently, pan out to be All-Star players. The St. Louis Cardinals chose Ryan Fernandez from the Boston Red Sox last year, and he ended up throwing 66.2 innings with a 3.51 ERA for St. Louis this year.

In order to protect their players, an organization must add Rule 5 eligible players to their roster prior to the draft in December. In order to protect a player, he must be added to his team's 40-man roster.

At the end of the 2024 season, the Cardinals had 41 players on their 40-man roster, two of whom -- Keynan Middleton and Drew Rom -- were on the 60-day Injured List, therefore removing them from the roster. That left the team's total at 39 players. At least three players will depart via free agency this winter in Matt Carpenter, Paul Goldschmidt, and Andrew Kittredge. That total rose to six after the Cardinals declined their club options on Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Keynan Middleton.

It could rise even more if the team traded veterans like Ryan Helsley, Nolan Arenado, Erick Fedde, Steven Matz, or Miles Mikolas for prospects. Other players currently on the 40-man roster such as Ryan Loutos, Jose Fermin, Chris Roycroft, and Kyle Leahy could be cut, thus opening more spots.

That could be 10 open spots on the 40-man roster this winter prior to any free-agent acquisitions. It's unlikely the number gets that high, so we'll assume there will be six open spots this winter. By my count, there are 48 Rule 5 eligible players in the Cardinals' organization. Several of those players will be released and available to be plucked by another organization. The minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft is where most of the transactions involving these players will occur.

However, there are some interesting candidates to be added to the 40-man roster for protection purposes this winter.

These 4 Rule 5 eligible players should be added to the Cardinals' 40-man roster to protect them this year.