Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has two spots open on the 40-man roster. However, he has seven players who can at least make a case for being added to the 40-man roster, so they can't be drafted next month during the Winter Meetings in Orlando.

I recently profiled four of those candidates. I'd be surprised if outfielder/first baseman Esmerlyn Valdez and right-handers Wilber Dotel and Antwone Kelly weren't protected, as Baseball America ranks them among the Pirates' top 10 prospects. Reliever Brandon Bidois had a 0.70 ERA in 40 games this season while pitching all four full-season levels of the minor leagues, and it's hard to ignore that.

Players signed at 18 or younger must be protected after five minor-league seasons. Players signed at 19 or older must be protected after four minor-league seasons.

If those players are not placed on their team's 40-man roster, then they can be drafted by another organization for $100,000. Any player who does not spend the entire ensuing season on the drafting team's major league roster and accrue at least 90 days of MLB service time can be offered back to their original team for $50,000.

There are three other minor-leaguers the Pirates could also be at risk of losing in the Rule 5 Draft. They are left-hander Anthony Solometo, catcher Omar Alfonzo, and infielder Jack Brannigan.

The Pirates chose Solometo in the second round of the 2021 amateur draft from Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken, N.J.. They gave him a bonus over the MLB-recommended slot value. MLB Pipeline rated Solometo as baseball's 84th-best prospect before the start of the 2024 season, but his career has since taken a sharp downturn.

Solometo was 1-7 with a 5.98 ERA in 20 games (17 starts) for Double-A Altoona in 2024. He was limited to three starts this year because of a shoulder injury.

Solometo, though, did not require surgery and is just 22 years old. Considering he is a lefty, some team might gamble on Solometo in the Rule 5 Draft.

Brannigan's stock has also dropped over the last two seasons. He tore the labrum in his right shoulder midway through this past season while playing for Altoona and underwent surgery. Yet Brannigan was considered a prospect of note as recently as this spring.

Alfonzo is a 22-year-old left-handed-hitting catcher who popped 14 home runs in 116 games this year between Altoona and High-A Greensboro. His slash line was just .234/.354/.396, but there might be an organization willing to stash Alfonzo on their MLB roster as a third-string catcher.