They signed their AAA player development deal with OKC. So you can see the future astros with a nice 6hr road trip.
Question. How can teams protect their top level prospects from the Rule 5 draft when there are so many of them. I don't get it.
I believe the prospects have to have been in the minors for 6 years prior to being eligible as a rule 5 choice. They also have to not be on the 40 man roster. Generally that type of player is not a top tier guy. If the player is chosen, he has to remain on the major league 25 man roster for the entire year. There are exceptions, but not too many rule 5 choices come back to haunt their former team.
Oh really? Johan Santana ring a bell. From wikipedia "Santana was discovered in 1994 by Chance Partin, brother-in-law of Cheech Marin, who was a scout working for the Houston Astros at the time. He signed Santana and sent him to his academy in Guacara in January 1995. Santana did not like it and almost left, but Reiner convinced him to stay. While originally a center fielder, Santana was converted to a pitcher at the academy due to his arm speed. In 1999 he was named the Tovar Mérida Athlete of the Year. [edit] Minnesota Twins After the 1999 major league season, he was left unprotected by the Houston Astros and eligible in the Rule 5 draft."
When has Johan come back to haunt us? He probably won a game or two but I wouldn't say he has haunted us. A big misconception about Johan is that he was this good or close to it with our farm team, not true. What has made him what he is today was his changeup and he didn't learn that till he got to the Twins or Marlins, can't remember which.
Your dumb for even asking such a question. Haunting a team doesn't have to mean beating them. Those great years he had with the Twins he could of had with us. In 1998 to 2004 we were in and out of the playoffs. Maybe if we would of had him when we had Clemens and Petite was on the team, we would of won a ring or 2.
I guess you failed to continue reading my post? The Stros Johan was NOT the Johan we've come to know and love. He didn't learn that changeup till he got to the Twins I guess thus all these great accomplishments would have probably not have been achieved with us. Maybe he ends up being great but without that changeup he goes from being a dominant lefty to a crafty lefty....like I said, when has he haunted us?
I tend to agree with rockets394, without that changeup Santana is not the star he is today - something he did not learn until he left. Saying he haunted us is ridiculous. Every MLB pitcher has potential, a lot of the time it comes down to which team can extract it the best, something the Astros need to figure out currently.
