Home Run Derby

The 2007 Baseball Winter Meetings begin this week, which means that the Rule 5 Draft is about to happen. 

What’s the Rule 5 Draft?  Why, it’s the draft after the Rule 4 Draft.

Seriously, the Rule V Draft was enacted in order to keep talented MLB teams from stashing young prospects in the minor leagues when other teams might give them a chance to play in the majors right now.  So if a player isn’t on your 40-man roster, he can be picked off by another team.

The catch?  The player has to be on the drafting team’s 25-man MLB roster for all of the following season.  Quite often the draftees get traded back to the original team.

There’s been a lot of crappy players selected under the Rule 5 Draft.  But there’s also been a lot of good players … and a few studs. 

In no particular order, here’s some of the best players ever selcted in the Rule 5 Draft …

Johan Santana, SP
The Florida Marlins picked 2nd in 1999 and snatched the future two-time Cy Young award winner from the Houston Astros in 1999 … and then traded him to the Minnesota Twins the same day for RHP Jared Camp (who the Twins had taken with the 1st pick of the same Rule 5 draft) and some cash.

Wow.  Two teams missed the boat on Santana in less than 24 hours.  Three if you include the Twins not taking him #1.

The Twins kept Santana on the roster in 2000 and suffered through a 6.49 ERA.  Eight seasons, four AL Central Titles, and two Cy Youngs later … it was worth it.

Christy Mathewson, SP (HOF)
How long has this rule been around?  Well, since at least 1900, because that’s when the Cincinnati Reds snatched Christy Mathewson from the New York Giants.  

The Giants got Mathewson right back for HOF’er Amos Rushie to the Reds (who went 0-1 with a 8.59 ERA) for Mathewson    had a Hall of Fame career, going 373-188 with a 2.13 ERA and 79 shutouts in the dead ball era.

In 1916 the Giants traded him to the Reds, for whom he played one game - which he won despite giving up 8 earned runs in a complete game.

Dan Uggla, 2B
The Marlins snatched Dan Uggla from the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005. 

The D-Backs looked foolish immediately as the young Uggla promptly went out and hit .284 with 27 HR and 90 RBI.  He finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting.

He is the only Rule 5 draftee to make the All-Star team in the year following his selection.

Bobby Bonilla, 3B
In 1985, the White Sox grabbed Bonilla from the Pirates.  But partway through the 86 season, the Sox traded him back to Pittsburgh for pitcher Jose DeLeon. 

Bonilla went on to hit .284 for the Pirates the next five seasons, collecting three Silver Slugger award and four All-Star appearances in the process. 

And a fat contract from the Mets in 1992.  One which he didn’t live up to without Barry Bonds in the lineup.

Bip Roberts, IF/OF
The Padres snatched Roberts from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1985 and he played all of a disappointing 1986 in San Diego. 

After two years in the minors, he broke out in 1989 and finished his 11-year career with a .294 average.  Could play all outfield positions and played every infield spot excpet 1B.

Too bad his baseball card was only worth 4 cents.  First commenter to get the reference wins a no-prize.

Kelly Gruber, 3B
The Cleveland Indians left Gruber unprotected in 1983 and the East rival Blue Jays picked him up.  Like Roberts, he split time between the bigs and the minors before breaking out three seasons later. 

In 1990 he was the AL Silver Slugger and Gold Glove at third base.  Was traded after the Jays’ first World Series title in 1992 and his career was cut short after a bone spur on his spine the following season.

George Bell, LF
The Toronto Blue Jays struck Dominican gold when they nabbed slugger George Bell off the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies roster in 1980.

For the Blue Jays, Bell was a two time All-Star, a three time Silver Slugger, and was the 1987 American League MVP. 

And he was part of one of the more memorable outfields in MLB history with Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield.

Jay Gibbons, RF
The Blue Jays can also lose a good player in the Rule 5 Draft.  In 2000, they left outfielder Jay Gibbons unprotected, and the Baltimore Orioles swooped in and grabbed the minor league star.

In 2001, Gibbons hit 15 HR in 73 games and got injured.  Had a career best 100 RBI in 2003, but has played only one full season since then (139 G in 2005).  His name has been linked to performance enhancing drugs.

Willy Taveras, OF
In 2003, the Astros nabbed Willy Taveras off the Cleveland Indians’ roster.  Taveras saw little action in 2004 as the Astros made a trade with Cleveland to keep him in the minors - where he led the AA Texas League in batting and SB.

In 2005, Taveras hit .291 with 34 Stolen bases and finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting to Ryan Howard.  Taveras was traded to the Colorado Rockies before the 2007 season where he hit .320 with 33 SB for the NL Champion Colorado Rockies.

Roberto Clemente, OF (HOF)
The Dodgers have had some fabulous players in their history. But there was one that got away - quite possibly the best overall player to play the game.

The struggling Pittsburgh Pirates snatched Roberto Clemente off the Brooklyn Dodgers’ roster in 1954 and kept him on the roster for 18 years, a .317 average, 3000 hits, 1305 RBI, 12 consecutive Gold Glove awards, 12 All-Star selections, four NL Batting Championships, the 1966 NL MVP, two World Series Championships (1960 and 1971) and the 1971 World Series MVP.

Josh Hamilton, OF
Okay this one might be a little early … but a year ago the Chicago Cubs took the 1999 #1 overall MLB Draft pick (suspended for substance abuse from 2002-06) away from the tampa Bay Devil Rays … and the Cubs immediately sold him to Cincinnati that same day for a bag of balls (okay, some cash too).

Hamilton would have to be on the Cincy roster all season … and it paid off for the Reds. In 90 games Hamilton hit .292 with 19 HR and 47 RBI.

Will another great young player get nabbed in the 2007 MLB Rule 5 Draft?  Keep watching this week.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 2:21 pm and is filed under MLB Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.