Just a quick note to explain much of the transaction movement you might have seen last week.  Thursday was the date that rosters had to be set in order to protect a player from the Rule V draft.  Here are some basics about what that means. Players drafted out of high school or signed internationally in the high school age group are eligible for the Rule V draft five years after being signed, and players drafted out of college are eligible four years after being signed if they are not on the team’s 40-man roster.  The last day of the winter meetings the Rule V draft is held, and any team can claim a player that meets those specific requirements but is not on their teams 40-man for the cost of $50,000.  The catch is the player has to stay in the major leagues - on the 25 man roster- for the entire next season.  If the team claiming the player doesn’t keep him in the big leagues he must offer him back to his original club and only gets a portion of the money he spent back.  There are a ton of players left unprotected, because either the team has too many to protect, or because the team thinks  no other team could keep the player on their 25-man roster for the entire next season.  Some of this is gambling.  Dan Uggla is a great example of a guy who was left unprotected and then managed to stay with the Marlins the following season.  Josh Hamilton is another, though he was left unprotected because the Rays thought other teams would be too scared of his history to take the risk.  The position the Reds were in though made it a lot less risky then letting him go by.  The whole thing hinges on a front-office having properly gauged the depth of the other 29 teams, and of their own.  If I have 4 guys that can play first base and have a good bat, I am not going to protect them all, all things being equal I will leave the one I least expect to play off the 40-man, perhaps even one that is more expensive because of a contract. (Yeah, I know, all things aren’t equal then.) The next two weeks teams will look at who was not protected and see if there is anyone that can help them.  Often its pitchers who might be able to fill a relief spot or a 5th starter.  Sometimes teams will claim a guy to fill one of those roles and bring him to spring training to see if he can compete with the other options.  Look for a bunch of guys to get returned to their original team at the end of March.  So that’s the gist.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.