Article:When Looking Over your Team's Final Rosters, Don't forget the Rule V guys!


 * Disclaimer : This article and all its contents describe "real" baseball and is being submitted without the approval of fake believers.

What!? The Rule V draft? What the heck is that, the draft which comes before the Rule W draft? No, genius, the "V" is the Roman Numeral for "5", not the first letter of Vindication, which Roger Clemens certainly didn't get today.

The Rule V (5) draft is a disbursement draft for Minor League Players who must be placed on their current team's 40 man roster yet have not been due to various reasons. It was originally instituted after World War II in order to keep teams from enslaving players in their minor league system indefintely, thus stockpiling. The initiation of Major League free agency in 1974 and minor league free agency in 1980 has had a drastic effect on the Rule V draft, reducing the annual transactions from upwards of thirty players to an average in recent years of a dozen or so.

Any player 18 years of age or younger when signing their first contract must be placed on the parent ML team's 40 man roster upon completion of his fourth full minor league season, players 19 or older the number is reduced to three seasons. If a team doesn't have room on the roster, he must be exposed to the Rule V draft and if not selected can then be sent down without being added to the roster. If a player is selected, the selecting team pays $50,000 to the owning team and he must immediately be placed on the 25 man roster and must remain in the ML until the end of the upcoming season.

An example. The Cubs have an outfielder named Fack Tard. In the Rule V draft, Fack is selected by the Reds. The Reds send a $50K check to the Cubs and add Fack Tard to their roster. Fack must remain on Cincinnati's ML roster (and thus in the major leagues) until the day after the World Series ends in the current season. And, yes, there is an "out" clause in the Rule V draft. Let's say Fack Tard really is a facktard and Cincinnati really doesn't want him, or wants him in the minor leagues. He first must be offered back to the Cubs for the bargain basement price of $25,000. If the Cubs accept him back, he can be sent to the minor leagues, if the Cubs refuse to take him back because he's a facktard, the Reds can then send Fack Tard to the minor leagues.

In most cases as expected, Rule V players are deemed not Major League ready even after their three or four year minor league stint, although there have been some notable players who started their ML careers as Rule V draft picks. In 1954, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected a young outfielder from the Brooklyn Dodgers who went on to have a pretty decent career. Other notable players include 2006 NL Rookie of the Year Dan Uggla, George Bell, Darrell Evans 1984 American League Cy Young winner Willie Hernandez, Bobby Bonilla, Kelly Gruber and the newest member of the New York Mets pitching rotation.

Below is the complete list of the Major League portion of the Rule V draft. Players will be listed by name, position, selecting team and original team.

Tim Lahey, RHP, Rays, Twins*

Evan Meek, RHP, Pirates, Rays

Randor Baird, RHP, Orioles, Tigers

Jose Capellan, RHP, Giants, Red Sox

Carlos Guevara, RHP, Marlins, Reds*

Sergio Valenzuela, RHP, Reds, Braves

Matt Whitney, 1B/3B, Nationals, Indians

Wesley Wright, LHP, Astros, Dodgers

Fernando Hernandez, RHP, Athletics, White Sox

Brian Barton, OF, Cardinals, Indians

Randy Wells, RHP, Blue Jays, Cubs

R. A. Dickey, RHP, Mariners, Twins

Steven Register, RHP, Mets, Rockies

Michael Gardner, RHP, Padres, Yankees

Travis Blackley, LHP, Phillies, Giants

Garrett Guzman, OF, Nationals, Twins

Calix Crabbe, 2B, Padres, Brewers

Lincoln Holdzkom, RHP, Phillies Red Sox

Following the draft, the Rays traded Lahey to the Cubs and the Marlins traded Guevara to the Padres. If neither of these players make their new teams out of spring training, they must be offered back to their original team, not the team which drafted them.

The one guy on the list who has a chance to turn in a Dan Uggla type season is Brian Barton. Barton hit .307 last season with 21 stolen bases in Cleveland's system but had off-season knee surgery. The Tribe was hesitant to add Barton, a potential five tool player, to their roster without knowing the status of the knee, and understandably were not thrilled at losing him. With Juan Encarnacion out for the season while still recovering from his unfortunate eye injury suffered last season, and with the defensive shortcomings of Chris Duncan, the Cardinals felt they needed immediate outfield help.

Others to watch are Lahey, who the Cubs desperately wanted for their bullpen, Guevara, who should provide the Padres the hard throwing lefty option out of the bullpen they've lacked since Randy Myers, and Guzman, who will battle Ryan Langerhans and Elijah Dukes for the fourth and fifth OF spots in Washington.