Through the first leg of this frowning offseason, the Rockies have worked around the margins looking for incremental improvements to their roster. More opportunity will arrive soon, but not before they roll the dice.
The Rockies must submit to the league office their 40-man roster by 4 p.m. on Friday. Before then, they will have to decide whether to promote any number of minor-league players in their system who are eligible for Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 draft. If they don’t protect them, the Rockies will leave them unprotected, allowing other teams to poach them.
The Rule 5 Draft is baseball’s most wonky mode of player movement, a quirk of the collective bargaining agreement. It is meant to stop teams from being hoarders, prohibiting them from stashing young prospects in the minor leagues forever. It forces them to make a move or move on. If a player was at least 19 years old when he was drafted and has been in the minors for at least four…
