If I understand correctly, by calling up Michael Bowden today, they are effectively committing a 40-man roster spot to him for the balance of the year. Which makes me wonder: who will be exposed to the Rule 5 draft who would otherwise be protected?

Hunter Jones is a goner if we don't protect him, but I assume the Sox will make room on he 40-man for him (if he's not already on it). Corsaletti is a guy who might draw interest, based on his numbers at Portland (he has struggled since his promotion to Pawtucket). Who else is vulnerable?

I'm not necessarily against the Bowden call-up-- just trying to figure out all the consequences.

well, if you take a look at the 40 man, there's a few names that will either be FA's and not likely to re-sign and guys that wouldn't be huge losses if they were lost...here's what i've gathered

FA's:
Paul Byrd
Sean Casey
Mark Kotsay
Mike Timlin
David Ross
Alex Cora
Kevin Cash (depends on if Wakefield can throw to the kids)
David Aardsma

Expendable Minor Leaguers:
Eric Hull
Marcus Macbeth

That opens up 10 spots on the current 40 man (which goes down to 9 with lugo coming off the 60-day)

so it seems like 40-man protection will not be an issue because there will be spots to stick someone like a hunter jones on the roster

I'd let Corsaletti go. Hunter is not on the 40-man but that probably changes very soon -- we might even see him in September.

The Sox have 5 or 6 spots to play with if they let guys like Eric Hull, Marcus Macbeth, Joe Thurston, Charlie Zink, Curt Schilling, Bartolo Colon and Jeff Bailey walk.

I think all our big names are pretty safe, but I know Capellan is vulnerable -- he'll probably be added to the 4o-man roster. I think Expo has at least a year left before he's exposed but I'm not 100% on that. Almost positive that Doubront IS available in the Rile 5 if someone wants to take a risk on a guy who just hit A+ ball. Since someone took a risk on Capellan I can't rule that out and it'd be a shame to see him go just after it finally looks like he's throwing it together.

Jones, Prince Felix, Jose Capellan, and possibly Exposito are the only ones I'm really concerned about. Some others are vulnerable but they wouldn't be the kind I would think the Sox lost something major if someone claimed them..

Guys who will newly be Rule 5 eligible include:

Felix Doubront
Hunter Jones
Jose Capellan
Mark Wagner
Jeff Corsaletti
Bubba Bell

Then there are guys who will be 6-year free agents, like Beau Vaughan, Edgar Martinez, Daniel Haigwood and Thurston.

Marcus McBeth has only pitched three times for the PawSox: 4 IP, 7 K, 0 BB, 2 H.

The list of the newly eligible over the next 2 years is formidable, even without Bowden who used to head it. Next year's crunch will be tighter than it looks because some of the 2010 and onward guys will make MLB prematurely (e.g., Lars Anderson is 2011):

2009
Luis Exposito
Yamaico Navarro
Kris Johnson
Mike Jones
Jon Still
Zack Daeges
Aaron Bates
Dustin Richardson
Jorge Jimenez
Bryce Cox
Reid Engel
Brian Steinocher
Chad Roades
Roberto Feliz

2010
Josh Reddick
Ryan Kalish
Daniel Bard
Jason Place
Richie Lentz
Chih-Hsien Chang
Mitch Dening
Nick Hagadone
Chris Province
Chad Povich
Jose Alvarez
Adam Mills

2011
Lars Anderson
Che-Hsuan Lin
Bryan Price
Brock Huntzinger
Oscar Tejeda
Will Middlebrooks
Stolmy Pimentel
Stephen Fife
Kyle Weiland
Drake Britton
Ryan Dent
Ryan Lavarnway
Anthony Rizzo
David Mailman
Tim Federowicz
Yeiper Castillo
Mike Lee

This is a guess, but I'd say the list for 2008 looked pretty bad from 2-3 years away, before attrition whittled down the ranks of those you would actually want to protect and MLB slots became open through injury, trade, free agency, etc.

The only guys I care about are Jones, Doubront, and Wagner. I have no problem with Martinez or Bell getting dumped, Corsaletti-Vaughn-Haigwood can be easily replaced by veteran MLFA's but would nice to have around, and Capellan would be nice to have around (I think we have to sign him to a contract tho). Thurston is probably gone, but I really wish he could stay because he would be the perfect guy to replace Cora/Lugo if he can shift his AAA skills to the Major league level.

Putting them those 3 (as well as shoving Lugo back on the roster), would result in 4 spots needed. Cora (Lugo) , Kotsay (Crisp), Byrd (Buchholz/Bowden/Masterson), Cash & Ross (Brown/Kottaras), Casey (Bailey/Carter), Timlin (Smith) can be trimmed. Aardsma I believe is still signed with the team since he's only making minimum...

Really? They didn't protect him last year... and he has not pitched well at all this year. I don't see him being protected... he is a long way away.

His numbers are skewed by a handful of very bad outings largely concentrated in the first part of the season not long after Dusty Baker had a crack at him..

Until he detonated a couple nights ago he'd been on a nice little roll, and he'd been doing a great job bouncing back after a very tough first half. I think he's not as bad as his numbers. I do see your point though.

Why the disdain for Jeff Corsaletti? He could be valuable OF depth next year. He can play centerfield. He's close enough to ready that he might stick with the team that claimed him (unlike, say, Capellan). He got off to a rough start in AAA but has gotten it going lately (12/36 over his last ten games).

Even if you think he has no upside beyond 4th OF-in-waiting, that's still value. No sense giving him away.

I'm with you, but I understand why others are dismissive of Corsaletti's potential-- he'll be 26 in February, and this is his first good season in the high minors. If calling up Bowden means losing the 40-man roster spot we otherwise would've used to protect Corsaletti, I'll get over it.

Corsaletti isn't an uninteresting prospect. His upper ceiling is probably Reed Johnson but he's got a decent eye at the plate and some speed, plus the ability to play CF. That's a useful combo off the bench I suppose.

If he was righthanded I'd be all for keeping him. We do not have enough decent righthanded power hitters.

For a guy to be worth protecting, these things must be true:

A1) He projects to be a possible MLB regular AND
A2) He could be remotely useful to an MLB team next year. For position players, that usually means good defensive skills even if the bat is a year or two away (Cecil Cooper was returned by the Cardinals in 1971 when they discovered how bad his defense was). A bad team can use a currently weak bat as a backup C or SS or CF as long as the defense is solid -- and then send him down to see if the bat develops. For a pitcher, it's the ability to be the last man in the bullpen for a bad team, i.e., be more than scary bad -- although this depends on upside. If you think the kid is a future CY winner, you can put up with a 6.50 ERA in that role, but ordinarily you'd want something under 6.00.

OR

B1) He projects to be an MLB position backup or middle reliever AND
B2) He can fill that role next year AND
B3) You're not so deep at that position that it's unlikely you would use him in that role next year (probably never true of pitchers, but can be true at a specific position).

I respect how aggressive the Sox have been in pursuing this pennant. They spent Sumoza to upgrade from Crisp to Kotsay for a month. The spent a 40 man spot to upgrade from Pauley to Bowden for one start. They acquired Byrd. At the same time, they spent a record amount on the draft class, so they can't be accused of blitheness toward the future.

Theo blamed himself for the 2006 collapse - the lack of depth - and promised it wouldn't happen again. He's hellbent on keeping that promise.