By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Heading into the offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies have a handful of roster moves to make room for players that need to be protected from the Rule-5 draft in December. On Friday afternoon, the Phillies the first step in that process, outrighting six players off the 40-man roster
Phillies outright to Triple-A: INF E. Burriss, RHP F. Herrmann, RHP D. Hinojosa, RHP C. Murray, OF J. Paredes and LHP P. Schuster.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) October 7, 201
With these six players now outrighted, the Phillies have 34 players on the 40-man roster, including soon-to-be free agents Ryan Howard, Jeremy Hellickson, Peter Bourjos, David Hernandez and A.J. Ellis. The Phils will take some time to select who will be added to the 40-man and be protected from the Rule-5 draft that usually occurs on the final day of the Winter Meetings In December.
A Rule-5 pick in the Major League phase must remain on the 25-man roster for the entirety of the season or will be returned to the team he was selected from. Philadelphia selected outfielders Odubel Herrera and Tyler Goeddel in the past two Rule-5 drafts. This year, some obvious locks for the 40-man roster that are Rule-5 eligible include Andrew Knapp, Dylan Cozens, Ricardo Pinto, Ben Lively, Nick Williams and Nick Pivetta.
The Phillies will have to make some tough choices on some other guys that are eligible in hopes of them not getting picked in the draft because of their lack of experience at high minor league levels for the most part. Jesnuel Valentin, Malquin Canelo, Mark Appel, Carlos Tocci, Alberto Tirado and Cam Perkins are just a few of the players eligible for Rule-5, but could be left off the 40-man roster.
Emmanuel Burriss was brought in as a versatile bench man that could play both infield and outfield, but didn't stick on the roster because of his inability to do much of anything on the offensive side of things. In 39 games with the Phillies this season, Burriss hit just .111 (5-for-45) with a double, triple and 10 strikeouts.
Frank Herrmann went 6-1 with a 1.72 ERA in Lehigh Valley before joining the Phillies in the middle of August. He posted an 8.40 ERA, allowing 16 earned runs in 15 innings of work. Opposing batters hit .323 against Herrmann during his short stint with the big league club.
Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Dalier Hinojosa was one of a few candidates for the closer role in the Phillies bullpen. Injury and the success of Jeanmar Gomez prevented him from getting a serious look at all this year. He allowed four runs on 10 hits in 11 innings pitched at the Major League level in 2016.
Colton Murray appeared for the Phillies during two call-ups this season and while his breaking ball is intriguing, his inability to throw any of his pitches consistently for strikes makes him an easy cut decision for the team. Murray went 1-1 with a 6.25 ERA in 24 games with the Phils this year.
Outfielder Jimmy Paredes was brought in to provide some offensive pop in the Phillies outfield, but he never truly had a future with the big league club. He hit .217 in 76 games with seven doubles, four homers and 17 RBIs in an outfield bench role.
The Phillies claimed left-hander Patrick Schuster off waivers from Oakland in August and he appeared in just six games this season, allowing 18 earned runs in just 8.2 innings of work, walking 10 and striking out eight.
