Here's who I think they will care about protecting or using spots for:
1. Dickey
2. Folty
3. Newcomb
4. Teheran
5. Veteran starting pitcher to be acquired
6. Vizcaino
7. Ramirez
8. Johnson
9. Flowers
10. Suzuki or other backup catcher
11. Freeman
12. Adams
13. Albies
14. Swanson
15. Camargo
16. Santana
17. Kemp
18. Inciarte
19. Markakis
20. Dustin Peterson
21. Ruiz
22. Fried
23. Sims
24. Wisler
25. Gohara
26. Lindgren
That's about it.
After that there is a group of relievers: Sam Freeman, Krol, Brothers, Morris, Jackson, Biddle, Cabrera, Hursch, Rivero, Winkler. Some of them will undoubtedly be protected. But it would not be a big deal to lose a couple of these guys. Same goes for Blair.
There are also guys like Jace Peterson, Micah Johnson, Adonis Garcia and Lane Adams. Maybe we protect two of them, but again it would not be a big deal to lose any of these guys.
There is no 40 man roster crunch. It is an urban legend. We are not at risk of losing anyone of value to the upcoming Rule 5 draft.