Sunday, September 1, 2024

S60 Rule 5 Draft Look Back

Gabrielle  O. Alvarez-Tillman - Contributing Reporter

Here we are close to the end of the season, let's take a quick look at how the Rule 5 panned out for teams this year. 

  1. New York - Gordon Eyre. Perks of having the #1 in the Rule 4, you also get it in the Rule 5 draft. Fortunately for the franchise and unfortunate for Washington DC, their owner missed dotting an i on putting Eyre on his 40-man. He shifted to 3B and rightfully so with that defense. 
    • From Washington DC
    • 572 AB, .245 AVG, 21 HR, 20 SB, 72 R, 84 RBI
    • 2B/SS/3B - 6 +, 6 -, 24 E
  2. Pittsburgh - Bryant Ventrella. The epitome of rebuilding is Ventrella - not quite good enough to play defense at shortstop, saw time as a defensive upgrade at 3B and CF and performed as expected at the plate by not performing. 
    • From Tacoma
    • 424 AB, .208 AVG, 4 HR, 2 SB, 28 R, 27 RBI
    • 3B/CF - 7 +, 8 -, 5 E
  3. Philadelphia- Alan Cotts. Back of the bullpen guy but he gets the job cheaply done. Always good to have. Solid pick for both a team looking at a run to the division but also one that might be rebuilding. Which by the way, do we know which Philly is doing? 
    • From Pittsburgh
    • 38 G / 0 GS, 4-1, 2/2, 1.20 WHIP, 3.32 ERA.
  4. Austin - Brendan Sy. A typical back of the bullpen guy finds himself stuck in the NL South, shifting from the dry heat of Santa Fe to the humidity of Texas. I don't care if this is a rebuilding team or not, that WHIP and ERA at the ML level belongs back in the minors...the deep minors. 
    • From Santa Fe
    • 29 G / 19 GS, 2-12, 0/0, 1.71 WHIP, 5.97 ERA
  5. Fargo - Turner Walker. Is this a broken record - another backend bullpen guy. He's likely the 25th man of a 25 man roster. For the new owner, I'd call this one a success, grabbing a "useful" arm for free. 
    • From Philadelphia
    • 43 G / 0 GS, 4-7, 1/2, 1.55 WHIP, 4.89 ERA
  6. Dover - No pick. Entering this season they've had 6 straight seasons below 64 Ws; and they couldn't find any value here? 
  7. Chicago - No pick. Considering the path we all knew they were on this year, I'm surprised there was no pick here. A chance for a ML minimum salary. 
  8. New Orleans - Ray McGee. Took all of 16 hours before he was offered back to Buffalo, who might I add, declined. Ended up in AA New Orleans drinking his dreams of pitching at least a single major league inning away. 
    • From Buffalo
  9. Colorado Springs - Luis Mendoza. WHAT?!? A certain player type minded owner during a rebuild goes with a DH? A guy who has less defensive game than an eskimo in winter. For a C/DH he had an awful season, those guys are supposed to it. But at least he technically hit above the Mendoza line. He bats like a 2B without the speed. 
    • From Dover
    • 522 AB, .257 AVG, 16 HR, 1 SB, 53 R, 73 RBI
  10. Washington DC - No pick, but lost Gordon Eyre. Does that count? Imagine this team who took the NL Wildcard 2 had they not lost Eyre. 
  11. Charleston - Allen Harris. Not to be confused with Allan Harris, he played quite a few years as SS for Columbus, he was good though about to retire. This guy has a great fastball but that control...I've seen the movie Major League; he's Wild Thing recreated. 
    • From Anaheim
    • 34 G / 33 GS, 6-18, 1.58 WHIP, 4.63 ERA. 
  12. Columbus - Likely didn't see anybody worth picking up as they made another play at the division. 
  13. Augusta - Rico Terrero. Yet another back of the bullpen guy but so far he has performed the best of them all. If he handled righties better he'd be at the front of the bullpen but that's why he's in the Rule 5 draft. Solid pick for AA. 
    • From Washington DC
    • 50 G / 0 GS, 7-6, 11/13, 1.12 WHIP, 3.82 ERA
  14. Tucson - Rubi Tavarez. Solid backup option that covered nearly every position needed by Tucson. I'd gladly take these numbers from the Rule 5 pick, especially at pick 14.  
    • From Mexico City
    • 256 AB, .262 AVG, 13 HR, 11 SB, 46 R, 48 RBI
    • Played everything but SS. 5 +, 2 -, 6 E
  15. Minnesota - Jhonatan Flores. Started 79 games this season and put up a low average with solid speed. Not bad for a rebuilding team or a sub .500 team who wins their division like Minnesota did. Respectable on defense as well. Good add. 
    • From Helena
    • 327 AB, .242 AVG, 3 HR, 31 SB, 49 R, 29 RBI
    • 2B - 8 +, 0 -, 8 E
  16. Jacksonville - No pick. 
  17. Vancouver - Merkin Spence. Was offered by within 24 hours and accepted by NOHD just two days after that. Spent all his time in AA this season. 
    • From New Orleans
  18. Tacoma - No pick. #2 in the NL for the playoffs, could they have found anything that could have snagged the #1 seed? Doesn't matter, made the playoffs. 
  19. Buffalo - No pick. 
  20. Boston - No pick.
  21. Salem - No pick.
  22. Montreal - No pick.
  23. Mexico City - No pick.
  24. Anaheim - Wade Butler. Appears to not even be a back of the bullpen guy, but he was still on the ML roster - now that's HARD to do. 
    • From Helena
    •  11 G / 0 GS, 1-1, 0/0, 1.80 WHIP, 6.17 ERA
  25. Scottsdale - Timothy Norton.  He's the typical defensive guy that we find in the Rule 5 drafts and given how he was used at every position, shows the value. He surely helped the weak bullpen in Scottsdale. At the plate though, not so much; I've seen pitchers hit better. 
    • From Buffalo
    • 173 AB, .197 AVG, 0 HR, 2 SB, 11 R, 15 RBI. 
    • Played at least 3 innings at EVERY position. 12 +, 0 -, 3 E
  26. Huntington - No pick. 
  27. Helena - Harry Sosa. Played in 124 at Shortstop so definitely has his place in Helena towards the end of games. When the closer comes in, so does Sosa. He wasn't quite Norton but he'll definitely do until his Arb 2 year. 
    • From Buffalo
    • 119 AB, .202 AVG, 2 HR, 0 SB, 7 R, 12 RBI. 
    • SS - 3 +, 0 -, 8 E
  28. Oklahoma City - Tim Linton. Immediately offered back and claimed by New York. The guy can barely handle AA hitters, no wonder OKC didn't want him. 
    • From Santa Fe
    • 52 G / 0 GS, 1-3, 2/4, 1.56 WHIP, 5.40 ERA
  29. Santa Fe - No pick as they claimed another division title. 
  30. Hartford - David Floyd. First Rule 5 pick since S51 turned out to be a back of the bullpen guy. Hartford seems to always be looking for bullpen help. They even have a top 5 bullpen coach. 
    • From Pittsburgh
    • 47 G / 0 GS, 3-5, 3/6, 1.37 WHIP, 3.86 ERA. 
  31. Houston - No pick. 
  32. Atlanta - Mark Maurer. No matter where they pick, they'll typically find someone useful in the Rule 5; though this year maybe a little less. Maurer filled in as a late inning mop-up duty. 
    • From Minnesota
    • 21 G / 0 GS, 2-4, 2/2, 1.46 WHIP, 5.20 ERA
Alright folks, that's the first round of the Rule 5, productive year?
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