Cardinals – Wilking Rodriguez, RHP, Yankees

Just looked the guy up: he's 32 and according to bb-ref his last U.S. professional experience was in 2015, with the Yankees' AAA team; he's been pitching in the Mexican League and Venezuelan Winter League ever since, with varying degrees of success. He was phenomenal in 2022, though, with an 0.89 WHIP and 14.7 K/9 over 46 relief appearances.

I'll wager this works out better than the Cardinals' usual strategy of filling out their bullpen by giving out multi-million-dollar guaranteed contracts to mediocre middle relievers.

For a minor league system that is still recovering from the Dombrowski days, the Red Sox losing three pitchers among the 15 total players selected surprised me. Ward was probably the most controversial omission by Chaim Bloom; given that he was the first pick in the entire draft, Bloom is open to criticism for exposing him rather than, say, David Hamilton.

I'll wager this works out better than the Cardinals' usual strategy of filling out their bullpen by giving out multi-million-dollar guaranteed contracts to mediocre middle relievers.

I wonder if the Cardinals really think this guy could be worth a full-season roster spot on a contending team. If so, they saw something everyone else missed repeatedly. Maybe just showcase him in a bit in spring training & the early season, then trade him to a non-contender for a lottery ticket prospect and/or cash considerations?

The Cubs can toss $17 M in Bellinger's direction but can't spring $50 K to add this guy to their pathetic mix of Cs? If nothing else, get him to camp and if you like what you see, spring some minor deal with the Nats to keep him at AAA.

Tigers – Mason Englert, RHP, Rangers

22 years old, 7-5, 3.57 ERA, 116/26 K/BB in the Sally League last year. Beats a kick in the head, I guess.

I had no idea Wilking was still playing baseball before the draft.

I like his glove but Millas’ bat is pretty weak - didn’t think he’d be tabbed.

Kinda like Englert.

They're rule V picks, so obviously few of them will pan out. But you can see why most of them drew some interest. Nic Enright looks like he could be a useful reliever. Actually, a few of the pitchers look like they might be the kind of somewhat older anonymous reliever that teams seem to be stocked with these days.

The pirates lost 11 players in the two drafts today. Seems like there should be some kind of max limit on how many people you can lose in one do these.

I like his glove but Millas’ bat is pretty weak

Sure he's probably not gonna stick on the 25-man. But it's a handful of cash (though now that I think of it, it's more than $50 K now isn't it?), some of which you get back assuming his team wants him back. And after seeing him in spring, maybe you decide to work out a trade and stick him at AAA and develop his bat. The Cubs have two Cs in their top 30 per MLB.com -- #15 Ballesteros is a 19-yo at A; #16 Amaya is 24, has just 266 PA over the last 2 years, has no experience above AA either and his main offensive weapon is a very good walk rate. Millas is a healthier version of Amaya.

Seems like there should be some kind of max limit on how many people you can lose in one do these.

That's why good organizations trade some of their prospects for other players.

It is very rare for a guy in the minor league Rule 5 to pan out. I think Justin Bour and Omar Narvaez are like the best players in the last decade.

Huh. I didn't know it was common for teams to take a pass in the Rule 5 draft.

It is very rare for a guy in the minor league Rule 5 to pan out. I think Justin Bour and Omar Narvaez are like the best players in the last decade.

Add Mark Canha to that list, he might be one of the best Rule V picks ever.

By the way, it really is rule 5 not rule V.

It is very rare for a guy in the minor league Rule 5 to pan out.

Does this depend on what you mean by "pan out?" There are few rule 5 guys who immediately stick on the 25-man and become productive? Or eventually become productive?

The 2018 rule 5 (preceding the 2019 season) included:

Jordan Romano -- in the majors every year 2019-22, 157 IP, 165 ERA+, 5.7 WAR, 3 WAA. He was grabbed from the Jays by the White Sox who sent him to Texas who seem to have let him go back to the Jays.

Connor Joe -- fringe-y as they come but up to 700 ML PAs now. Grabbed by Reds from Dodgers and sent back.

I suspect 1 or 2 of the other pitchers had some ML time too.

Maybe it just doesn't happen anymore or maybe they changed the rules but back in the old days, you'd see maybe 1 or 2 cases a year where a team grabbed a guy in the rule 5, liked what they saw but didn't have room on the 25-man but would make a small trade with the original team for the guy's "40 man rights" and stick him in AAA. In 20/20 hindsight, the Rangers certainly should have held onto Romano somehow even if they couldn't hold him on the 25-man all year.

I'm not nearly as obsessed with Millas as I seem, I just noticed him in one of those "best rule 5 guys" articles. Based on that writeup and their b-r pages, he seems at least as good if not better than the Cubs current #3 C (Amaya) ... both of whom might be better than the current #2 (PJ Higgins who came out of nowhere with a nice year last year) and heck #1 is an aged Yan Gomes who might very well put up a 46 OPS+ next year. If a player like that is available for "free" you grab him. Why they didn't/couldn't work out a deal for him before the rule 5 I can't say. Or maybe the Cubs 40-man is more chock-full of talent than I realize. If the worst-case scenario is you waste $25-50,000 then take a chance on a guy.

i'm not anti-millas so much as i don't think i'd look at rule 5 for a catcher if i ran the cubs (given this year's options). you could get an (different type of but) equivalent talent through minor league free agency, not have to pay another team, and have more roster flexibility - say julio e. rodriguez.

Cardinals picked up Cecil Cooper from the Red Sox in the 1970 Rule 5 draft, but returned him to Boston before the start of the 1971 season.

Cooper had a fantastic minor league season in '71, and got the first of his cups of coffee before finally sticking in the bigs for good in 1974.

Why doesn't a team like the A's simply pick up 10-20 of these guys and let them play while their talent develops? Cheap way to fill out a roster and you might hit on three or four guys. They are already fielding a minimum wage team. It would be fun and piss off all the teams that lost those players

I think you guys are talking at cross-purposes here - Mark Canha and Jordan Romano were taken in the normal Rule 5 Draft. RoyalsRetro is talking about the Minor League Rule 5 Draft, which happens after the normal one and is really just about filling out rosters in the minors, and very rarely results in a guy who makes the majors ever.

What is Rule 5, anyway? (And what are Rules 1 through 4, and how come they don't have drafts...?!)

to (unnecessarily) elaborate on #18: the normal rule 5 draft draws from a player pool where guys on 40 man rosters aren't eligible. the minor league phase (which doesn't have any restrictions on where the player plays in the next season - you can play them wherever - plus a lower acquisition cost) excludes both guys on the 40 and guys on the 38 man AAA reserve list. iirc, all but one club had open spots on their 38 man list this year -- if you want to protect a given guy from that phase, it's pretty easy to do so. clubs hit hard in that phase, like pittsburgh or san fran or the yankees or..., either did a bad job in the eyes of industry of deciding who to protect or have a lot of useful or useful-ish depth ... generally the latter.

rule 4 has a draft! that's the big one in the summer.
here's the rule book from which those drafts get their names.

the rule 5 draft has been around for over a hundred years; i think it may be the oldest draft in pro sports. it is used to keep players from being stuck/stockpiled at lower levels of baseball - for a fee, you could select an unprotected player to go to a higher level of play. in the past, before the minors were affiliated the way they are now, that might get a guy from c ball to a ball - or a way to give teams cracks at bonus babies - or other things. now, it's a way to get a crack at middling but interesting prospects that other teams didn't prioritize (big league phase) or fill the depth chart for an affiliate (minor league phase). people without 3-4+ years of experience also aren't eligible (barring special circumstances, like a voiding of a contract). it also has an effect on other transactions - you'll see deep teams like tampa make a flurry of deals before the protection deadline to trade away guys who might get picked that they don't have room for ... or a trade for jeff mangum (on the mets until a few days ago), now with the marlins delayed until after the draft to ensure that the wasn't selected in the draft ... or delays in minor league signings until after the draft (as those signings either use up 38 man spots or could be picked in the minor league phase ... like s.newton was yesterday by a club that tried but didn't get him on a minor league deal).

it's obscure and minor but, i think, reveals a lot about how baseball the ecosystem works.

I think that the Pirates had four guys who they DFA'd recently, expecting to pass them through waivers, outright them to Triple A, and protect them. But all four got claimed. It seems there was another guy they tried to draft, but was ineligible because he was on his team's restricted list. So that's five of the seven spaces they left open.

What is Rule 5, anyway? (And what are Rules 1 through 4, and how come they don't have drafts...?!)

I also learned this week there is a Rule 19 draft - for if a team is killed, and the rest of the league disperses players to that team!

Why doesn't a team like the A's simply pick up 10-20 of these guys and let them play while their talent develops? Cheap way to fill out a roster and you might hit on three or four guys. They are already fielding a minimum wage team. It would be fun and piss off all the teams that lost those players

You have to go in with open spots on your 40-man roster. Which means you're either 1) exchanging your 36th most valuable player for another teams 41st or something or 2) risking the prospects you are developing.

For the As in particular, there's no price difference really between the players on their own 40-man roster and the Rule 5 players. I mean Tony Kemp has a higher number because he's played a few years so there's a marginal difference, and Sean Murphy if they keep him, but it's not a big deal.

I assume the reason they still sign someone like Diaz or Peterson (Jace) is because they think they're more valuable than Rule 5 guys (and stats would suggest they are right. Most Rule 5 guys are basically replacement.)