Rule 5 Players not on the 40-man roster who are eligible for the Rule 5 draft for the first time this year: Alaniz, Ruben Borchering, Bobby Buchanan, Jake Cain, Colton Cotton, Jamaine Doran, Bobby Fernandez, Jose Franco, Enderson Gomez, Edwin Heidenreich, Matt Hernandez, Enrique Marte, Ydarqui McCurdy, Ryan Mejia, Yonathan Meyer, Jonathan Mier, Jiovanni Minaya, Juan Moon, Chan Morales, Jobduan Nash, Telvin Ramirez, Francis Rivera, Raul Robinson, Andrew Rodriguez, Richard Santana, Domingo Shirley, Thomas Singleton, Jonathan Sogard, Alex Torrez, Raoul Wates, Austin Wojciechowski, Asher Players not on the 40-man who were eligible for the Rule 5 draft for the first time in a previous year and will eligible again this year. Some of these players may be minor league free agents this offseason: Alvarez, Luis Ambriz, Hector Berger, Eric Burgess, Michael Castro, Erik Cruz, Luis De La Rosa, Luis Escalona, Sergio Garcia, Rene Genoves, Ernesto Gonzalez, Alex Gonzalez, Alfredo Gonzalez, Edgar Heredia, Angel Lamb, Cameron LeBlanc, Wade Lin, Che-Hsuan Martinez, Jose Moronta, Cristian Musick, Wes Perdomo, Carlos Perez, Carlos Quevedo, Carlos Quezada, Euris Rivera, Darwin Seaton, Ross Simunic, Andrew Stoffel, Jason Tiburcio, Frederick Urckfitz, Pat Weiland, Kyle Wikoff, Brandon
Bolded the guys who I think have to be given some consideration. Varies from very unlikely to slam dunks.
It might be best to look at this in tiers. No doubt: Santana, Domingo Singleton, Jonathan Wojciechowski, Asher Bubble: Buchanan, Jake Doran, Bobby Cruz, Luis Garcia, Rene Perez, Carlos
With as deep as the Astros are getting i the minors. Teams will be looking forward to the Rule 5 to scavange the Astros talent. So Lunhow is going to have to continue to be proactive and trade mediocre MLB potential in their systemwho have value for younger prospects or for MLB club stopgaps in the Astros. It is going to be a very demanding system for sure.
One more thing. If necessary they can select one of their own minor league players in the rule 5. I know it has been done by other clubs.
So, in a sense, we have 41 roster spots if there is someone that they want to protect and draft with the 1-1 rule 5 pick?
My understanding is that teams have 40 roster spots. If a team decides to draft a Rule 5 player, a spot will need to be made open on the 40 man roster. IIRC the Astros entered last year's Rule 5 draft with open spots on their 40 man roster.
The following current players should readily be removed if there are any questions about any of their prospects being exposed. Bedard, Hunber, Clark, Pagnozzi, Gonzales, Harrell, Cruz, Laird, Crowe
When has this ever been done? I'm not sure you can do that. You definitely can't do that. If you have a full 40-man roster, you can't make a selection.
You have to have open spots going into it. You have to set your roster prior to the Winter Meetings (there is a set roster date). This is to say, we can't go in with 40 guys, and then decide to cut one of them on the day of the draft. Doesn't work that way.
Bedard is an UFA after the season. Absolutely will not be on the 40-man. Humber, Clark, Pagnozzi, & Gonzalez are gone as well, though it will be via team refusing Humber's option and DFAing the other 3. Organization hasn't said anything regarding the last 4. I have to think Laird & Crowe are 90%+ chance of being DFA'd, while Cruz & Harrell are kind of up in the air.
I trust that if it comes down to Harrell and/or Cruz over a player they plan to have on the team in 2015, they will pick the player they intend to have on the team in 2015.
Harrell is one of the biggest question marks IMO. Because he was so terrible people completely forget how solid he was. Even this year he was 5-7 through 16 starts with respectable 4.32 ERA in the AL. To go along with his 3.76 ERA for the whole year last year. Because we have talked about it so much, I think a lot of people have lost sight of the level of prospect that will be exposed in the Rule V. We're talking very fringey guys. Now any prospect has value, but you have to ask realistically whats more likely. This prospect actually achieving it's promise or Lucas Harrell regaining a form he has already displayed at the major league level. I think it's Harrell. I would keep him and let him battle Wojo and Keuchel for that 5th spot.
My misunderstanding. I had previously read how Atlanta had selected one of their own players in the Rule V back in the 1990's. Maybe they made room in case someone exposed a better player and since nobody did, they simply re selected their own guy. Thanks for the clarification.
I found it. It was 1988, and it was because they had made a clerical error: http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/1988_Rule_V_Draft [rquoter]In an unprecedented move, the Atlanta Braves selected the first player in the draft from themselves. A clerical error had left Ben Rivera unprotected, and the Braves had to use the first pick to reclaim him.[/rquoter] [rquoter]As a result, the Braves had to pay $50,000 and use the first pick in the draft to keep one of their own prospects.[/rquoter] I guess he didn't have to stay on the 25 man roster, since he spent the whole season in the minors.
