Winter 2019-20 Roster Moves / Rule 5 Draft Discussion

[bigegypt0417]

Traded to the A's for cash.

[Squire]

Gotcha. I could not find it after I saw it at first.

Salisbury now says we sold Machin to the Oakland organization for cash.

[julio]

Interesting. We just basically sold the pick to Oakland. Okay.

The Phils still need a backup middle infielder on the 26-man roster.

[Philsmania]

Cash or international bonus money?

[andyb]

Old friend Jonathan Arauz selected by Boston. Only had a partial year at AA so this is a pretty aggressive pick.

[zambonir]

Now the topic in the other thread too - as I said there I don't think they need a back-up SS per se. If Miller returns he can play the position. If Harrison makes the team Segura or Kingery can play it in an emergency/double-switch. Gosselin started four games there for us last year too.

[BaseballCat]

From what I have seen of him in the Carolina league the last two years this is a stretch. He improve a bit last year and thus the move to AA. Has some pop and is still 21 years old. I see little chance on sticking in majors, but perhaps he slips to minors and improves with age. Harold Arauz - the other Arauz in the Giles trade has passed from the Phils to the Cards, but has since been released.

[julio]

Cash or international bonus money?

Salisbury's tweet said "cash."

Jim Salisbury on Twitter

[andyb]

Middleton saving his pennies to pay for the team exceeding the luxury tax threshold? It is a little odd we would even care about this. I suppose it is one of those favors GMs do for one another occasionally.

[LoneStarPhan]

We often read about the Phillies' lack of talent in the farm system but the Phillies did not take advantage of the opportunity to add one or more players through the triple A phase of the rule 5 draft. I wonder why? It looks like 23 teams took at least one player in this phase of the draft with 12 taking a second player, five a third, and two teams (Angels and Cubs) took a fourth player. I am surprised the Phillies didn't see any player they thought would improve their farm system.

Perhaps more telling as to the state of the Phillies farm is the fact that none of the 42 players selected in the triple A phase of the rule 5 draft were taken from the Phillies system.

[fish]

. I am surprised the Phillies didn't see any player that thought would improve their farm system

Poor professional scouting is why they never seem to find the diamond in the rough.

[andyb]

The extra year to protect players has really changed the rule 5 draft as teams have gotten smarter about projections. The players left unprotected are generally not ready if they are prospects or conversely AAAA players who are easily replaceable. We would prefer a reliever like Stock who does not have to be on the major league roster all season.

Arauz fits the category of a prospect who is not really ready. His projection is somewhere between regular and utility guy, though I think many still see a 20 HR bat in there with good 2B defense and acceptable SS defense. The Red Sox certainly do though I wonder if a contending team can hide a utility player likely to hit around the Mendoza line because he is not ready. Defense and pinch running only take you so far if there are no other offensive contributions.

[zambonir]

But LSP was talking about the AAA phase. I tend to think those guys are all just scrubs who would be released, and can be just as easily replaced by minor league free agents, anyway. Maybe not even worth the $24,000 (which is what it costs now). But, like he said, more than 2/3 of MLB felt otherwise.

The modern bullpen usage of shuttling guys to AAA, which I assume will continue under Girardi (and maybe even happen more because of the three-batter rule, more long reliever types coming) makes it pretty much impossible to carry a Rule V 5 bullpen guy now. Especially if he's not great/ready (which has generally been the case with our past Rule V 5 relievers).

[andyb]

Yeah, generally the AAA phase are players not remotely prospects. It is more teams filling holes in rosters than anything else. If you are not on the 40-man roster plus the next 38 best prospects with enough time to need protection then you are probably just holding a roster spot down.

[Austinfan]

It seems in the past many of the "hits" in the Rule 5 draft were LA players who used up their exemptions before they grew up, the extra year gives teams time to make a better assessment of whom to protect (and means when you expose a potentially talented LA player like Marchan, he's a late bloomer that other teams don't want to spend 2-3 years developing and using a ML roster spot to stash).

[andyb]

In the past the rule 5 draft had one less year of protection. 3 for college and 4 for HS/Latin American signings. That year makes a big difference. The prospects that look like front line starters have generally been revealed after 5 years and they get protected. After 4 years they might have been identified, but it was a much tougher roster decision for a team to put them on the 40-man before they are ready.

If we lost that extra year of protection then a whole slew of prospects might go unprotected. On the Phillies I might guess that Moniak would have gone unprotected since we need that 40-man spot to cycle relievers on and off the major league roster. Moniak does not look like more than a 4th OF now, so the risk of leaving him unprotected would be minimal even if he might be able to survive as the 26th man somewhere.

Marchan is promising, but is still not ready and also does not project to be an above average regular at the moment. He is not really a late bloomer. Just a 2nd tier prospect that can't help anyone on the major league roster now and is not good enough to stash.