Tag Archives: Rule 5 Draft

RULE 5 DRAFT

The last day of the Winter Meetings is when the annual Rule 5 Draft is held and on Thursday there were eight recent California League players taken in the Major League and AAA phases. The Rule 5 Draft involves players who were unprotected by their parent clubs being eligible for selection by the other major league clubs. (Check MLB.com’s “About” page HERE)

According to the protocol, the players selected in the major league phase, four of them having played in the California League since 2012, will be on their new clubs’ major league active roster for the duration of the 2015 season. If not, they will be forfeited to their previous organizations.

If you’ve paid attention to the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, you know that the big-name success stories who have come out of this draft’s history include Johan Santana and Josh Hamilton. But, for the most part, these are players who weren’t placed on their organizations’ 40-man rosters within the stipulated four or five years of signing due to the fact that they haven’t had the hoped-for performance over time in the minors.

It’s another chance to get the career going for talented players who, for whatever reason, haven’t climbed their organizational ladder in a timely manner.

The major league phase of the draft included the following:

# NEW CLUB PLAYER OLD CLUB
3 RANGERS OF Delino DeShields Jr. Astros LAN ’12, ’13
7 CUBS SS Taylor Featherston Rockies MOD ’13
11 BRAVES RHP Daniel Winkler Rockies MOD ’13
12 MARINERS LHP David Rollins Astros LAN ’12, ’13

Players drafted in the AAA phase do not have to be placed on the active roster of the selecting club. Players with Cal League ties in this year’s AAA phase:

# NEW CLUB PLAYER OLD CLUB
1 DIAMONDBACKS RHP Timothy Crabbe Reds BAK ’11, ’12
6 WHITE SOX RHP Peter Tago Rockies MOD ’14
12 BRAVES C Steven Rodriguez D-Backs VIS ’13, ’14
22 MARLINS 1B Harold Riggins Reds MOD ’13, BAK ’14

40-MAN ROSTER CHANGES

Yesterday, November 20, was the deadline for teams to decide which players they would protect from the Rule 5 Draft and it spurred a flurry of transactions. The Rule 5 Draft takes place on the last day of the Winter Meetings, December 11th this year. Players must be placed on the major league roster within four years or five years of being signed, depending on their age, or be exposed to the Draft.

That caused a lot of movement onto and off of various 40-man rosters. Some of the bigger names that played in the California League recently who got protected by being placed on the 40-man include 3B Brandon Drury (VIS), 3B Renato Nunez (STK), P Vincent Velasquez (LAN) and OF Kyle Waldrop (BAK).

Here is a rundown of recent Cal League players that were added to or removed from major league rosters:

PADRES
Added – Taylor Lindsay (IE ’12), Tayron Guerrero (LE ’14) DFA – Yeison Asencio (LE ’13) Traded – Reymond Fuentes (LE ’11) to KC for Kyle Bartsch

MARINERS
Added – Ketel Marte (HD ’13), John Hicks (HD ’12), Mayckol Guaipe (HD ’13)

ASTROS
Added – Vincent Velaszquez (LAN ’13, ’14)
Outrighted Anthony Bass (LE ’09, ’10) to AAA Fresno

GIANTS
Added – Derek Law (SJ ’13), Cody Hall (SJ ’12), Joan Gregorio (SJ ’14), Ray Black (SJ ’14)

REDS
Added – Kyle Waldrop (BAK ’13, ’14),

DIAMONDBACKS
Added – A.J. Schugel (IE ’11), Kevin Munson (VIS ’10, ’11), Will Locante, Brandon Drury (VIS ’14), Socrates Brito (VIS ’14)
DFA – Charles Brewer (VIS ’10), Mike Bolsinger (VIS ’12)

ANGELS
Added – Danny Reynolds (IE ’12, ’13, ’14), Jett Bandy (IE ’12)
DFA – Jackson Williams (SJ ’08), Alfredo Marte (VIS ’10, ’11)

DODGERS
Added – Scott Schebler (RC ’13), Chris Reed (RC ’11, ’12), Zach Lee (RC ’12)

ROCKIES
Added – Tyler Anderson (MOD ’13) DFA – Juan Nicasio (MOD ’10)

ATHLETICS
Added – Renato Nunez (STK ’14)

With the offseason affiliate changes, the Reds left Bakersfield but the Mariners moved in from High Desert. Both the Reds’ and Mariners’ organizational changes are reflected above. Just for the record, here are the moves made by High Desert’s new parent club, the Texas Rangers:

RANGERS
Added – Jerad Eickhoff, Jorge Alfaro, Hanser Alberto, Luke Jackson
DFA – Jim Adduci
Released – Aaron Poreda, Miles Mikolas
Traded Daniel Robertson to Angels for PTBNL