This Tuesday, November 20th is the deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters ahead of the Rule 5 draft in December. That doesn’t give new Orioles GM Mike Elias a ton of time to acclimate himself to the Orioles’ farm system. While other teams are finalizing the decisions they’ve had months to ponder, Elias will have to hit the ground running with deadline decisions to clean up his 40-man roster.

It’s likely the Orioles will make at least one selection in December’s upcoming draft – which requires opening up a spot on the currently-full 40-man roster. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com takes a look at some of the players that could be on the chopping block. Veteran backstopis one DFA candidate, as is injury-prone catcher. It should be noted, Elias has until November 30th to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players, giving Elias some extra time to decide on a player like shortstop. The urgency before Tuesday is in protecting anyone likely to be poached by another organization, such as right-hander, catcheror left-handed pitcher Luis Gonzalez . Tate is the likeliest of the bunch to be protected, as the Orioles probably won’t want to risk losing the 24-year-old just a few months after acquiring him from the Yankees in thetrade.