The Cubs protected 40 man roster stands at 38.
In order to protect minor league prospects who have accumulated enough service time in the minors to be eligible for the December winter meetings Rule 5 draft have to be promoted to the 40 man roster. However, most likely, the Cubs hold open two major league roster spots for potential free agent signings.
If not, the Cubs can only protect two (2) players from this list. (With teams not taking very many players in the Rule 5 draft, since that player must be kept on the team's active 25 man roster for the entire 2015 season or lose him, the chances of the Cubs losing a player is remote.) However, the one guy that pops out as a possibility is RHP C.J. Edwards.
CUBS MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS ELIGIBLE FOR SELECTION IN DECEMBER 2014 RULE 5 DRAFT (last updated 11-3-2014):
Gilberto Abreu, RHP
Gioskar Amaya, INF
John Andreoli, OF
Jeffry Antigua, LHP
Delbis Arcila, OF
Jeffrey Baez, OF
Frank Batista, RHP
Marcelo Carreno, RHP
Zach Cates, RHP
Hunter Cervenka, LHP
Pin-Chieh Chen, OF
Gerardo Concepcion, LHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs)
Willson Contreras, C
Blake Cooper, RHP
Wes Darvill, INF
Taylor Davis, C
Alberto Diaz, LHP
C. J. Edwards, RHP
Kevin Encarnacion, OF
Luis Flores, C
P. J. Francescon, RHP
Humberto Garcia, INF
Victor Garcia, LHP
Dustin Geiger, INF
Anthony Giansanti, OF
Jae-Hoon Ha, OF
Marco Hernandez, INF
Michael Jensen, RHP
Austin Kirk, LHP
Matt Loosen, RHP
Jeff Lorick, LHP
Barret Loux, RHP
Dillon Maples, RHP
Andrew McKirahan, LHP
Trey McNutt, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs)
Alberto Mineo, C
Yoanner Negrin, RHP
Carlos Penalver, INF
Felix Pena, RHP
Starling Peralta, RHP (Article XX-D player - can elect free-agency if drafted & then later re-claimed by Cubs)
Ivan Pineyro, RHP
Austin Reed, RHP
Jose Rosario, RHP
Julio Sanchez, RHP
Tayler Scott, RHP
Rock Shoulders, 1B
Rubi Silva, OF
Brian Smith, LHP
Elliot Soto, INF
Antonio Valerio, C
Yao-Lin Wang, RHP
Ben Wells, RHP
Tony Zych, RHP
