Relax The Atlanta Braves Are Ready For Rule 5
By Fred Owens
Why Not Just Grab Some Players
One of our readers said, “I have never understood is why teams don’t take full advantage of the situation, with three phases: big league, triple A, then double A. That’s three athletes for almost nothing.”
I’ll try to clarify why. First thing to say is three isn’t a limit, you can grab all you want but you must have a place on the appropriate roster to put them. As I noted above the minor league service time of a player is a consideration in making a selection.
Let’s say the Braves select a player with five years of minor league service who has yet to progress above A ball. That player can’t be sent below Class A Advanced unless there are less than two players at Rome that have five years service time and can’t be sent lower period.
Secondly these players are unprotected for a reason; they aren’t good enough yet and their current team doubts they will be. Then there’s Rule 55.
Rule 55: The Six-Year Minor League Free-Agent
This is from the earlier post linked at the beginning. You all read that I know but maybe some newcomers didn’t.
Rule 55 free agents – commonly called or six-year free agents – are, as noted above, another special case. Here’s the criteria for Rule 55 free agency.
A player is a Rule 55 free-agent five days after the World Series ends at 5 PM (Eastern) if:
- The player had his first contract renewed six times and has spent all or any part of at least seven separate seasons on a minor league roster and/or
- The player has been previously released or non-tendered in his career and his present contract has expired.
When you take a player with five years minor league service in the draft you’re most likely filling minor league roster space. If he suddenly becomes ready for the forty man roster it’s a plus otherwise he walks after the season which may or may not be an issue but it is a fact.
A Quick Look At Possibilities
As I noted earlier I asked Benjamin Chase for help with this post. He’s a quick peek at potential Braves loses in the MLB portion of the draft.
“If the Braves lose someone in the MLB portion it’s most likely a reliever like Matt Marksberry, Andrew McKirahan, Steve Kent, or Steve Janas. I could see all being decent MLB picks and our depth makes them replaceable.”
One of our regulars here at the take did some research and suggested a few choices for the Braves. Once again I defer to Ben for his notes.
“Of the players suggested I love Anthony Santander. He’s not a guy who will play the type of outfield defense that the Braves have been emphasizing in their system ( ED note: Santander is a converted first baseman). He has however made big improvements offensively this year.
Two LHP – Angel Perdomo and Jose Paulino would be solid AAA choices if they made it through the MLB portion. Both are the type of pitchers who may get selected in the MLB portion.”
That’s A Wrap
Seeing the success of Inciarte and to a lesser extent Odubel Herrera of the Phillies last year reminds us that sometimes talent isn’t recognized. That talent occasionally surfaces in the Rule 5 Draft but, not often.
If you’d like a peek at all of the Rule 5 selections at all levels since 2011, I’ve dumped them into a spreadsheet with a few notes. The notes aren’t all inclusive just things I found interesting. All involving the Braves are in red.
No one is suggesting that the Rule 5 Draft be ignored simply because the pickings are slim and the chances of success even slimmer. This is simply a reminder that we hear about success stories because like a 20th round draft pick becoming a star, it doesn’t happen often.
Assuming the front office haven’t done their homework for the Rule 5 Draft this year doesn’t jibe with the way they’ve done business so far. Since taking over, the Hart/Coppolella team has turned over all kinds of stones fairly successfully looking for a hidden talent.
Roster construction today has no effect on the decision to draft a player on December 5th. The roster can before the drat, will change over the next few weeks and on into spring training; if they see someone they want they’ll adjust the roster before draft day and grab him and figure it out after. They make those judgements every day of the year.
The draft will be fine, now if we could just find a catcher. . .