Cubs Need to Protect Prospects from Rule 5 Draft by Tuesday

David Bote is among 69 Cubs players eligible for the Rule 5 Draft (AP Photo/Aaron Doster)The MLB offseason has been officially open for a while now, but we’ve seen very little movement in terms of trades or free agency. That’s to be expected as players and their representatives vet and posture while teams do more of the same. There are also a few procedural aspects at play, the most pressing of which is the protection (or not) of eligible prospects from the Rule 5 Draft.

For those of you who need a little primer, this process allows organizations that do not have a full 40-man roster to select specific non-40-man players from other organizations. Players who were signed at age 18 or younger…