#Rule 5 Draft

Lewin Díaz is back in DFA limbo. I wouldn't be surprised if he ultimately winds up as a minor league free agent and has to earn a roster spot in spring training. Congrats to our own Daniel Rodriguez on his third consecutive Marlins Jeopardy victory. For Final Jeopardy, contestants had to identify the active Marlins player who's speaking in this…

Garrett Stubbs was an unlikely hero. At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, he doesn't look like a ballplayer, and is constantly reminded of that by spectators who call him a Little Leaguer and a bat boy and a clubhouse attendant. He says he hears this just about every time he's on the field but has gotten used to it by now. He's always been undersized, but he…

The Orioles have not ruled out signing a veteran free agent for the rotation, but their choices are dwindling by the day. Baltimore could acquire a top arm via trade, but it's hardly a guarantee. Fans cannot fix up the O's and Marlins on a blind date regardless of how strong a match they appear to be. It's perfectly plausible that Mike Elias and…

Ever catch yourself thinking, "Boy, I'd love to see the Rick Hahn 2023 master craftsmanship roster breakdown all in one place?" Well, ponder no further. We present you with the White Sox 40-man (well, 39-man) roster as it currently stands. Of course, this can change at any time. So come on in and take a waltz down memory lane. You know your brain…

SAN DIEGO - Here's one thing that is not a secret: The Tigers, for way too long, struggled in the realm of player development. They did not produce enough international hitters. They did not find and develop international talent. When their rebuild began around 2017, the farm system was largely barren. And as has been well-documented, the Tigers…

The rebuild in Baltimore has entered its fourth year under new management, although 2020 felt like a waste with the minor league season canceled due to COVID-19. The Orioles aren't any closer to contending as they wait to make the first overall selection in the amateur draft. They're undermanned in baseball's toughest division, especially in the…

There are New Year's resolutions, but how about new season predictions? There are many facets of the Nationals to consider, from the Major League level to the Minor League system to the Draft. As we look ahead to 2023, here are three things I am thinking and my predictions for them. Prediction: CJ Abrams will take leap into Gold Glove…

A new era begins with former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny taking over in the dugout and John Sherman taking over in the boardroom after buying the team from David Glass. Kansas City is eager to return to relevance after consecutive 100-loss seasons; it just won't happen this year. The Royals have a few cornerstone players - Whit Merrifield,…

Acquired: International Free Agent, March 2018, $50K signing bonus Tools: Fastball 70, Slider 45, Changeup 45, Command 30, Overall 40 Martinez has a very electric fastball, in the 97-100 MPH range with good carry at the top of the strike zone thanks to a spin rate around 2500 RPM. (MLB average is 2276) His fastball movement is almost purely…

Last week's Winter Meetings was a generally sour note for Colorado Rockies fans. The club did little outside of signing former first round selections Cole Tucker and T.J. Zeuch to minor league deals and selecting RHP Kevin Kelly from the Cleveland Guardians organization in the Rule 5 draft before flipping him to Tampa Bay for cash. During that…

Prior to the start of the 2022 season there were plenty of bets being made that a player from the Pittsburgh Pirates would win National League Rookie of the Year. At one point shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz was the odds on favorite to win the award, and pitcher Roansy Contreras garnered plenty of NL Rookie of the Year buzz as well. A little over two…

Major League Baseball's 2022 winter meetings blew through San Diego like a three-day whirlwind, sending Justin Verlander to the Mets, Trea Turner to the Phillies, Willson Contreras to the Cardinals, Kenley Jansen to the Red Sox and "Arson Judge" into the pantheon of baseball's greatest Twitter moments. One of our biggest takeaways from the spending…

The Rule 5 Draft allows teams to poach certain minor leaguers from opposing organizations each year. The caveat is that the player they select must remain on the MLB roster for the entirety of the following season. If they are ever optioned or designated for assignment, they must be offered back to their original team. With the draft scheduled for…

Opening day is just a few short days away and that means we have to put a cap on all of the offseason business. I've spent more time than I wanted to talking about the complexities of the Cardinals' payroll and roster. Part of that was necessity - the payroll situation surrounding Arenado's contract is confusing and has led to an inordinate amount…

It's time for the Rule 5 Draft! An exciting draft where teams attempt to find hidden gems to add to their MLB roster for the upcoming season. Because of the new CBA the regular MLB Draft now has a lottery system. However the Rule 5 Draft order is still reverse standings from the previous year. That means the Tigers have the 6th pick. Most of you…

After skipping the Rule 5 draft last year due to the lockout, baseball will conclude its Winter Meetings with a draft on Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT. The draft is a chance for teams to poach talent from other organizations and for minor leaguers to get opportunities in a new organization. Players are eligible to be drafted if they are not on the 40-man…

The Major League Baseball season was shortened to 60 games from 162 in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it still felt like an eternity for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates started 4-17 under first-year manager Derek Shelton and finished with the worst record in the major leagues at 19-41. That extrapolates to 51-111 in a normal year.…

Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings are occurring for the first time since 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic and the owner-imposed lockout caused the last two events to be canceled. The return of the winter meetings also means the Rule 5 draft will again take place, canceled last year due to the aforementioned lockout. As such, below you'll find CBS…

The 2020 Miami Marlins were easily Major League Baseball's surprise team. Now it's time to see how they follow it up. After losing 105 games and finishing last in the National League East in 2019, Miami turned the corner in Year Three of the rebuild in a shortened 60-game season by going 31-29. Extrapolated to a 162-game season, that translates to…

The Oakland Athletics are soon expected to trade catcher Sean Murphy, and the Boston Red Sox are reportedly among the clubs in on the 28-year-old standout. According to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, the Red Sox, Cardinals, Rays and Guardians are among the teams that have been connected to Murphy in recent weeks. Feinsand had previously reported the…

Little more than 14 months ago, before the final home game of the Orioles' disastrous 2021 season, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias offered a direct assessment of how the organization would approach the offseason. "We're going to be very cognizant of who we are and where we are," Elias said then, "and I do think that the time…

Luke Maile reacts to signing a one-year deal with the Cincinnati RedsLuke Maile signed a one-year, $1.175 million contract to join the Cincinnati Reds as their backup catcher. As the baseball world descends upon San Diego for the winter meetings, which run Sunday through Wednesday, it's a reminder of how quickly the Cincinnati Reds tore down their…

SAN DIEGO -- It has been three years since executives, agents and the media gathered in one hotel for the annual MLB Winter Meetings, but the Texas Rangers weren't going to wait for everyone to arrive to get the fireworks started. A year after locking up Corey Seager and Marcus Semien for half a billion dollars, the Rangers gave Jacob deGrom a…

The Tampa Bay Rays remain in playoff position, despite a franchise-matching single-game 17 players on the injured list. That number, of course, does not include players now recovered from injury, like the team's top hitter Brandon Lowe, who is working with doctors to stave off stress fractures in his back. Overall, it's a precarious position for…

Next Wednesday is a national holiday in Birdland, as the Orioles are gearing up for the Rule 5 Draft. The Orioles front office has picked at least one player in each of the last 15 Rule 5 Drafts dating back to 2006, so expecting another is a very safe bet. There are even a few success stories on the active roster, namely Anthony Santander and Tyler…

MIAMI -- The message from new manager Skip Schumaker is clear: The Marlins are in "win now" mode. While Miami's talented and club-controlled rotation is the envy of nearly every organization, the lineup hasn't been able to back it up. In 2022 the starting staff compiled the eighth-lowest ERA in the Majors, but the offense scored the third-fewest…

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Cleveland claimed right-hander Luis Oviedo off waivers from Pittsburgh on Tuesday and added him to the club's 40-man roster. Familiar face: If Oviedo's name sounds familiar, it's because the 22-year-old Venezuelan was a member of Cleveland's 2016 international signing class and spent five seasons with the organization before being…

The Rule 5 draft is a week and a half away. It will take place on December 7th in San Diego to close out the Winter Meetings. Players selected in the Rule 5 draft must remain on the 26-man roster for the entire 2023 season or be offered back to the original team that they were drafted from. The Cincinnati Reds current outfield situation is a bit of…

The Diamondbacks are rebooting, and it is hard to blame them. The wall-to-wall changes began with the hiring of Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa as chief baseball officer last May, and also include new GM Dave Stewart, new director of baseball operations De Jon Watson and new manager Chip Hale. While it remains to be seen if the overhaul from a…

The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians will square off in an AL Central matchup on Saturday afternoon. With that said, it's a good time to check out our MLB odds series, which includes a White Sox-Guardians prediction and pick we have laid out below. Chicago is in the midst of a three-game losing streak, sitting at 61-59 and on the outskirts…

Jon Singleton's remarkable story continues. The towering first baseman found himself back on a big-league roster for the first time in more than six years when the Milwaukee Brewers selected his contract Tuesday. Singleton wasn't the lone player protected by the Brewers from next month's Rule 5 Draft, as the team also added prospects Brice Turang,…

Although the Tigers finished last in the AL Central in 2020 for the third time in four years, there was ample evidence of a corner slowly being turned - whether in the arrival of a quartet of prospects (pitchers Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, infielder Isaac Paredes, and outfielder Daz Cameron), the breakouts of Willi Castro and Jeimer Candelario or…

Earlier this week, the Orioles added top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez and four other prospects to their 40-man roster to keep them protected from this year's edition of the Rule 5 draft. The team has added at least five players in this way in each of the last three Novembers. Do they have the prospect depth where they will be adding that…

The Boston Red Sox made five additions to their 40-man roster to protect prospects from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. Those prospects were Ceddanne Rafaela, Chris Murphy, Brandon Walter, Wilyer Abreu, and David Hamilton. All of those players are ranked inside my top 30 Boston Red Sox prospects after the 2022 season. On the surface, those are…

During Diamondbacks' GM Mike Hazen's ZOOM media session last night he made clear that he is going to pursue a right handed outfield bat this off season. At the same time the team just designated for assignment two such players, removing them from the 40-Man roster, Jordan Luplow and Stone Garrett. Part of that decision had to do with the roster…

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. The Boston Globe reports the Boston Red Sox designated reliever Jake Reed for assignment on Tuesday. BUY MLB TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETSMARTER, TICKETMASTER The move came just one month after Reed joined the Red Sox, who claimed the reliever off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles in…

CHICAGO -- The Cubs have been discussing their crowded roster situation since the summer months. As Chicago navigated through another rebuilding year last season, there were internal promotions and Major League auditions happening with this week's roster deadline in mind. On Tuesday, the Cubs decided to add prospects Kevin Alcantara, Ben…

Most Atlanta Braves fans understand how the regular MLB Draft works. Generally speaking (with some notable exceptions and weirder cases), teams draft eligible players from the high school and college ranks with draft position being determined by teams' records the previous season. The Rule 5 draft functions in a very similar way, but with a very…

How he arrived: Waiver claim from Detroit Tigers, 11/9/22 Who left: Aramis Garcia outrighted, 10/30/22 There will eventually come a day where the Orioles run out of former Astros draft picks who were picked by Houston when Mike Elias was the most influential voice in their draft room. That day has not yet arrived. Another one of those players, Daz…

Yesterday, the Blue Jays made some moves to their active roster that caught a few people by surprise (myself included). They activated Hyun Jin Ryu and Vinny Capra, both of whom were on the 60-day IL and needed a roster spot, as there is no IL during the offseason. For Ryu, he will return to the injured list in 2023 considering he will likely be…

Every November teams around Major League Baseball have to finalize their 40-man roster about two weeks in advance of the winter meetings with regards to adding eligible minor league players to the 40-man roster so that they can't be selected in the Rule 5 draft. That date has been pushed up by a week this year and teams will need to have their…

The master pitching plan, at least on the development side, appears to be taking shape for the Rangers. Three pitchers selected out of high school in the 2018 draft-Cole Winn, Owen White, and Mason Englert-have put themselves in the nearly immediate picture. Had they gone to TCU, South Carolina, and Texas A&M, which were their intended college…

There was a bit of good news for the Orioles yesterday: Ramón Urías won a Gold Glove for his work at third base. It is a deserved honor, although you would be forgiven if it took you by surprise. Jorge Mateo always seemed like the most likely Oriole to win a Gold Glove in 2022, but he wasn't even named a finalist at shortstop. Cedric Mullins did…

The non-tender date is after the World Series is completed and the Cincinnati Reds will have plenty of decisions to make about who to tender contracts to for the 2023 season among their players who are not on guaranteed contracts. Two weeks ago we took a look at the position players who are likely up for debate within the front office. Last week…

Drew Hutchison's exit from the Detroit Tigers' roster happened so fast that we didn't even have a chance to include him on the "really vulnerable" list for this offseason. Nothing against Hutchison, who was second on the Tigers' in innings pitched in 2022, but there was little doubt that he would be off the roster by the first week in the…

Brennen Davis is widely regarded as one of the best prospects in the Chicago Cubs' farm system. In fact, leading up to the 2022 season, Davis was considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball. Baseball America had him as the 16th-best prospect in the MLB before the season began. The hype was understandable. But the 22-year-old has…

Facing the media for his final press conference of the season, Alex Cora didn't sugarcoat his thoughts on the Red Sox disappointing 2022 season. "We're like the best worst team in baseball," Cora said. "Like, how did this happen?" That's a rhetorical question, of course. Cora had a front row seat all season as his Red Sox consistently…

Have the Cleveland Guardians blazed a new trail in organizational systematization, or are they just incredibly lucky? How did they get from there to here, and where do they go from here? Is Terry Francona a baseball shaman? As postseason party crashers go, it's hard to beat the Cleveland Guardians, about whom the questions outnumber the answers.…

With just one game left in the season, it's time to finish the minor leagues. The Springfield Cardinals ended their season on the 18th of September, while the Memphis Redbirds ended last Wednesday. And frankly, if I don't do this now, it won't get done until after the playoffs simply because it would be weird to give a minor league update during…

We began this mailbag yesterday, and with so many questions that were submitted I felt the need to break it down into two different articles. You can read part one right here. All of the questions answered this weekend came from supporters of the site over at Patreon (here's the link if you're interested in helping the site stay alive for a couple…