The 2021-22 major league Rule 5 draft is expected to take place shortly after the signing of the next collective bargaining agreement, tweets JJ Cooper of Baseball America. Originally scheduled to take place this week, the major league Rule 5 draft was postponed indefinitely as part of the leaguewide transaction freeze once MLB instituted a lockout upon the expiration of the previous CBA on December 1.
Still, it’s a noteworthy development that it’s expected to happen at all. The Rule 5 had seemingly been on thin ice, with reports last week initially suggesting it’d be canceled entirely. Instead, it now seems the draft is on track to happen at some point. That’s a continuation of a more than century-old trend, as the Rule 5 has taken place each offseason since 1920.
For those unfamiliar, the big league Rule 5 draft is an acquisition process designed to give opportunities to players who might be buried on the depth chart in their current organizations. Players with either four or five years of professional experience (the exact threshold depends upon the player’s age at signing their first contract) have to either be added to their club’s 40-man roster or exposed in the Rule 5.
If they’re left exposed, they’re subject to selection by other organizations. If selected, players must remain on the active roster or major league injured list for the entirety of the upcoming season. Otherwise, they’re made available to the rest of the league and then — if not acquired by another team — offered back to their original club. After a full season on the big league roster or injured list — including a minimum of 90 days on the active roster — the player becomes a full-fledged member of his new team.
There is also a minor league phase to the Rule 5 draft, in which eligible players not included among an organization’s protected Triple-A group can be selected by another club. The minor league phase, which does not contain any roster restrictions for the acquiring teams, is scheduled to proceed tomorrow. Players selected in the minor league Rule 5 draft will not be added to teams’ 40-man rosters, so that process will continue in spite of the lockout affecting 40-man players.
Who wins the R5 draft?
The millionaires and billionaires
lazy joke, got one on hanging chads?
Its the players. Thyere basically in a company that doesnt have a job for their skills, but would prefer they dont find success at. a competitor. Its wild that MLB can choose where someone can work, it exists almost no where else.
It’s the antitrust exemption at play. But without it over the years, talent would have been spread out over multiple leagues much like it was in the early 1900s. I don’t think anyone needs a rehash of the Federal League today. Might be slightly better for the players initially, but would be bad for everyone…especially the fans…over the long term.
Owners are free to come and go as they please. Managers, coaches, front office can all move around freely to where the best opportunity is. But a player is locked into 9-11 years of commitment to the same team, and that team can just send your butt home whenever it likes. If he’s lucky he will get a chance to choose where he wants to work once maybe twice.
Obviously this is in place to ensure a more level playing field and a better product for the MLB, but it is not very American for America’s Pastime.
Look, nobody forces these guys to participate in this league or this sport. There’s a reason why the minors are filled with guys at each level for years, sometimes a decade, just waiting for one opportunity to make it to the majors. And if you look at recent trends, it’s much more the players seeking long-term deals, not necessarily the owners.
Players want the long-term security, they want the opportunity, they also want their cake and eat it too, if they can get it, so they fight for earlier access to the league and more opportunity to go into FA to sign a long-term, hundred-million-dollar deal.
Sorry, but the premise of the argument is an overreach by the players, albeit its collective Bargaining, so I understand the nature. And I see this as being very American, especially if you look at our history. It’s the ‘pursuit of happinessz’, not the guarantee.
And what a disaster it would be to have multiple leagues…yuck.
Minor leagues don’t get to bargain. Most professional baseball players are minor leaguers, so the majority of players aren’t even represented in this arrangement and taking most of the economic blows. I’m pretty sure we ruined a lot of tea for something like this before.
Managers, coaches and front office staff are not able to move around freely, what gives you that impression ?
You can quit your job and take a new one with another team. You can’t do that as a player.
There’s a difference between forced taxation by a government that’s stationed across the ocean and voluntary employment such as professional baseball.
Sure you can. Players get their release to pursue opportunities overseas quite often.
But players shouldn’t be allowed to just change teams whenever they want. Otherwise “team stacking” would be a bigger problem in MLB than in the NBA. You’d have 6 All Star teams and the other 24 teams would be the Washington Generals. It’s already a little too close to that arrangement now.
Yeah, most of the colonials that wrote the Declaration of Independence would have been on the side of the owners. They were all rich and didn’t exactly pay their “minor leaguers” very well either. They were not exactly the “friend of the little guy” that you seem to think.
Bingo. Give the man a cookie. This also points out a somewhat deceptive statement in the article. The Rule 5 Draft for minor league players can proceed not because minor league players aren’t locked out, but because minor league players aren’t represented by the MLBPA and consequently are not covered by the CBA.
@hiflew
“Players get their release…”
So they are not free to unless the teams says they can. I’m not saying there isn’t a good reason for the restriction on players rights to employment. It is just an interesting thing to keep in mind. Also, brother, you are doing a lot of projection right now with your politicking. At no point did I give any moral endorsement to someone who lived 250 years.
@Yankee Clipper. I’m trying to understand this concept of a person not being “forced” to do what they are best at doing. So you’re saying that someone who has the rare talent of being able to hit a major league fastball 450 feet was perfectly free to take up welding, or drive a delivery truck for Amazon if they don’t like the collusive and monopolistic structure of pro baseball?
MLBPA doesn’t want the minor leaguers. They would have to split the pie with 3600 new members diluting their salaries and lucrative benefits package.
The Yankees once had 24 minor league teams. They were hording the best players for years. That is why we have Rule 5.
@illegitimate
No, just no! Managers and front office personnel have contracts that prevent them from changing jobs w/o permission. As seen in the Mets recent searches, many requests to interview were denied by teams. Owners of the teams (franchises) cannot sell, or buy, unless approved by the league. I have a no compete clause where I work that prevents me from working for a competitor with in two years of my leaving. Its not that unusual. Of course if your job requires no special skills or Does not give you access to proprietary information, then its likely you are “free” to move. So McDonalds won’t likely block your move to Burger King.
A friends daughter is a engineer when she started employment the company required her to work a set term at a number of sites around the country before she really had a say.
I’m not going to cry for the poor athlete that has to play in a spot that wasn’t their choosing for at the minimum near half a million a year.
If you allow players to pick from the start with very weak financial restrictions you are going back to the time before the draft and free agency. 1920-1965 When the Yankees won near half of the world championships and kept a decent number of talented players in the minors because they could.
You can’t treat professional sports like a 9-5 job.
Don’t get defensive man. You brought up the tea party, I was just pointing out which side of the current negotiations resemble the colonials. No judgment on you whatsoever.
Besides, they have to get their release because they have a CONTRACT. In any other job, when you sign a contract you have to fulfill the terms or get the other side to release you from the obligation. You can’t sign a contract and then half way through the job decide you want to go elsewhere and work on something else. Well you can, but your bank account will suffer greatly from the lawsuits that would ensue.
Blue Skies: Yes, and I was speaking to only a specific part of this thread, so that’s not completely in context.
Nonetheless, it’s true. Baseball players stay in baseball voluntarily versus working as a doctor, attorney, businessman, or football player. By that statement you infer that if one does have the rare talent to hit 450 ft he should be able to the control his destiny? Versus someone that pursued one of the other disciplines? And your terminology of “collusive” & “monopolistic” is very much an opinion, unsupported by any substantive information. So, what are you getting at?
@bkbk bro, the players are millionaires too. Grow up, Chad.
You can’t interview while you’re employed unless it’s for a promotion. So a coach or exec would need to quit and then wait for openings (which are limited) and then interview and get the job.
Potentially you can be out of work for extended periods of time, with no income.
Hi Clipper – Well said as always. Baseball is competitive and there are no effort trophies. The odds of making the majors are slim so having a back up plan is smart. It sounds like Blue Skies might disagree with the concept of the free market and choice.
Yes, sir, Prov356. And those are two concepts near and dear to my heart. I hope you are doing well, my friend. Stay safe and stay warm (saw it was in the forties there the other day).
Well in reality it is who loses. Often if a guy is picked in the rule 5 they either get shuttled back and forth and lose on playing time only to end up with their old team and even more often they get a couple of games with the big league team only to be then sent back to the old team. Personally I am not a fan of the rule 5 because it kind of stunts the development of guys.
Players on a Major League pulled from rule 5 are paid a ML salary that year. Majority of these guys amount to squat. Any ML check and post benefits is a win.
How can it be bad when it’s an MLB opportunity that the player might not have had?
Because mister guy hasn’t really thought his position through yet.
it is because often these guys are on the cusp – they aren’t major league ready. if a team is claiming a guy on a rule 5 and it is a guy who is like 27 and shows promise but never really stuck then it is a win but often they are guys who are more like 23, 24 who are playing at the AA level and had high expectations but have some issue (hitch in the swing, command issues) meaning that a bottom dwelling team will pick them as a lottery ticket and when they flounder they end up losing a period of development and possibly a loss of confidence
hy
It would have been surprising if it didn’t take place eventually. Wouldn’t be surprised, however, if the next CBA makes changes beginning after 2022 that makes it more difficult to pick up any players of value. That has been the trend over the decades.
How would you balance that with also preventing teams like the Yankees from blocking them forever in the Farm?
@lordd99 I feel like you are thinking of Whitlock as you are writing your post. That’s such an anomaly as to not really matter. It is rare to get a real major leaguer in Rule 5. Besides, although he had a great year, he now has to go out and prove it wasn’t a fluke.
If they cancelled the draft how would the Orioles fill their roster?
By claiming middle infielders off waivers, of course
Instead of the response (in “Major League”) to “this guy here is dead” being “well cross him off then” it would be “put a glove on him and prop him up see if he can make a few games. If he’s dead we don’t have to pay him.”
His name is Dan Uggla!!!!
His name is also Johan Santana. But Uggla’s a good pull.
His name is Roberto Clemente, the greatest Rule 5 pick.
sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/rule-5-draft-2015-pic…
victorino has 2 WS rings——fuggla never saw a pitch he didn’t like
So then, it will be held sometime time in July?
Really it should be cancelled . Teams lost a full year in 2020 of development of players .
The R5 draft is for the players, not the teams. The teams’ needs are irrelevant here.
Only the Orioles are longing for this draft. It’s a big “yawn” for the rest of baseball.
The orioles had 2 pitchers taken in last years rule 5 draft…..
Also took 2. They’ll take a guy but the system is at the point where they might also get a guy or two selected again. Prob stop the narrative now
Rule 5 actually paid huge dividends for the RS who made it all the way to the ALDS. Whitlock was quite the snag.
“After Lockout”. So, in March?
It’s an interesting process, and occasionally if rarely produces results. But Red Sox fans truly appreciate the Whitlock gift from last winter. The fact it was from the Yanks make it all more delicious.
The “minor league portion” (which WILL happen Weds.) also yielded 5 MLB players in 2021, so it’s worth checking it out, anyway.
Changes in Rule 5? Despite what many think, the “40-man” roster didn’t descend from Mount Sinai on burning tablets. It can be changed almost at will, and I’m not sure it would have to be negotiated with the MLBPA; maybe because it affects union membership, but there’s no requirement. that teams use every slot.
The Phillies don’t win the ’93 NL pennant without Dave Hollins. Shane Victorino, who the Phillies selected and was then offered back to the Dodgers who refused, was a very important part of our 2008 WS winner.
But like Santana and Uggla, the aforementioned Phillies are the rare birds selected in the Rule 5 and go on to produce. Phillies also got a few years of decent production out of Odubel Herrera.
Think of the Rule 5 draft as a garage sale with a generous return policy.
Pirates are like oops we should have protected all those guys.
After the lockout. In other words it’s not gonna happen.
In effect, the combined minor and major league system ties player to team for as much as a decade,,,even more with clever service time manipulation. Imagine being drafted by a small-market team knowing every nickel is going to be squeezed.
2021 minimum mlb salary was 570k. After three years arbitration. For an example: Three years ends up being 1,710,000 minimum. I believe there are small raises before being arbitration eligible though. Let’s say the arbitrator awards new salaries of 1m ,1.5, and 2.0 each year from year four through six. This ends up being over 6 million for the six years. Hard to feel sorry for the players being tied down. If every player got Scherzer or Cole money we could not afford to go to or even watch the game on tv.
There were arbitration players that were awarded more than the QO amount in their last season by the arbitrators. Sometimes the arbitration award will be more than the open market and the team releases the player pre arbitration hearing. Poor Bryant was manipulated by the Cubs. He got what amounted to QO money anyways for that final year.
Anyone that wants the players to move freely from team to team when they want and make insane amounts of money isn’t a realist.
It appears the players want an age based free agency and one side wants an expanded playoffs. I believe both sides will come to an agreement without any delay of the 2022 season.
BTW poor Bryant victim of the Cubs service time manipulation was only paid 63.5 million by the team for his time with them.
@RJ Narvick
Let me ask you – as an A’s fan myself – what would Matt Olsen be worth as a free agent today if Freddie Freeman is asking for @$30 million a year? What is Matt Olsen getting in arbitration? @$12 million.
The amounts don’t matter – they really don’t – the point is that the six years of control artificially depress renumeration. Now I get that there is 3-6 years development time (or longer if you’re signed out of Dominica aged 16) paid for purely by the owners. However one unit of WAR is reckoned to be worth $8m (by far more intelligent people than me who ignore catcher or reliever WAR) Bryant – who you used as an example has career WAR of 28.7. So a career “value” of S229.6 million dollars. He’s been paid barely a quarter of that. Whilst I wholeheartedly believe ownership (in any well run business) should earn a return on investment, is ALL the $166.1 “profit” on that investment justified? Ignoring the shameless service time manipulation.
You can then harp on about the 100s or 1000s in the minors who never make it – those 100s or 1000s – a real millstone – are paid less than a living or even minimum wage to provide fodder for the high draft picks (already well renumerated at the draft) to chew through. About 20% were deleted recently in the minors reshuffle to very little complaint – in essence to pay for the new housing benefit of the rest.
Average player salary has stalled for five years. Do you really expect the players to put up with that status quo? Would you in your role?
I’m over it now – I’ll have a sedative and growl at the fish…..
It’s not always about money.
They say money can’t buy happiness.
I realize that it is very very highly paid but its really indentured servitude.
The American way is freedom.
On the one hand they chose this industry and knew ( or should have known) how it works and chose anyway.
On the other they have no choice in who they work for or where they live 8 months out of the year.
Still I bet 100% of them would choose it again in a heartbeat.
And professional sports can’t operate fairly any other way.
That doesn’t mean they don’t fight for the best life and most freedoms they can get.
But the rule 5 draft is one of those small battles.
It benefits players not teams.
It is there so no team can hoard more than 40 players for more than 4-5 years if they have MLB talent ( or perceived to have)
Let’s say the Padres have a talented shortstop at AAA who can’t play any other position but would be an All-star level producer.
With no rule 5 draft, the Padres could just keep him at AAA as insurance for Tatis for 14 years or until his commitment ends. No majors no matter how good he is.
Of course that’s an extreme example and of course a trade or injury would likely happen but that is why the rule 5 draft benefits the players and why players want it.
The R5 is mutually beneficial. Gives teams a chance to find blocked or underutilized talent, like Whitlock. It also provides an opportunity for players to get away from either a talent block or organizational “fit”/control issues. Luke Barker with the Brewers is a great example for this year. Has had back to back great AAA seasons but can’t get a call up for some reason. Due to the 7 year contract, there are still two more seasons he can be left in AAA when he would likely be on the 26 with at least a third of the teams in baseball based on likely projections.
So, in that scenario, how does losing Barker benefit the Brewers?
They get 100k for a guy they didn’t want to promote.
It is a bit like a college scholarship. The MLB teams pay $10-15 million for each minor league team. They pay the coaches and a facility fee to the ballpark owner. They give the kids a small stipend. Some get a large signing bonus
This will not happen this year unless lockout is settled in the next few weeks.
One of the things MLB needs to change is how amateur talent is obtained.
It is crazy and unfair.
If you are born in a Latin country you can sign with any team that offers you when you turn 16.
If you are from a foreign country ( like Japan or Korea) that has its own professional league, you can not sign unless they allow it.
If you are from the USA you can not choose where you go, you are drafted, then not until you are 18 or have graduated high school.
Pick ONE system for everyone people !
40% of the Dominican Republic lives in poverty. The MLB baseball academies are the only hope for many families. The kids will play baseball but not all will be invited to an academy where they get professional training and an education. Only 61% of kids in the DR are enrolled in high school. Only 12% of those living in poverty graduate. They need to leave school to support their families. Would you close the academies?
I understand all that, and what MLB does for that population is wonderful.
But that does not change the fact that if that same player, same family was homeless and poverty stricken in the inner city of some U.S. state then that he would not be able to sign a contract until he is 18.
Let’s hypothetically talk about 2 players that sign, spend 5 years in the minors, taken in the rule 5 draft, and have average stats for 6 years in MLB for their new teams.
Player A is from Detroit. He is eligible for the rule 5 draft at 23. Gaines Free agency at 29.
Player B is from the DR. He is eligible for the rule 5 draft at 21 and then free agency at 27.
And as we know all other things being equal, the player who hits FA at 27 gets a much larger and longer FA contract.
Over the course of his career, the player from the U.S. loses tens of millions of dollars simply because he is from the U.S. and not DR.
@Strosfn79 Bingo. It would be sensible to have baseball academies in US inner cities for athletes starting at 16 years old.
If the military can get 16 year olds, why not baseball.
My A’s might be dipping their toes in the Rule 5 draft pool , but at the same time I don’t see a team taking any of what the A’s left on their plate . Max Schuemann stole 50 bases between AA & AAA , Nate Mondou 103 wRC+ at AAA Vegas . Both O’s , and Royals material .
The end of the lockout could be a month or 6 months. They need get something done before pitchers and catchers report.
Fix service time manipulation: if a player plays ONE MLB game in the 2022 season then that counts as Year 1 of service. So you may as well bring up Adley Rutschman for opening day rather than waiting until May, because it would count the same.
The Orioles are all over the Rule 5 because they are still traumatized by losing Jose Bautista in it and then having him come back and punish them for 7 or 8 seasons.
This is what I like…go by years appeared and not games played.
The clock is ticking, MLB. The longer this lockout continues, the more us fans will feel alienated by MLB. Baseball can’t afford another 1994 as they will lose thousands and thousands of fans in the interim. The hugely expanded playoff proposal by MLB is ridiculous as it is quite obviously a money grab by the owners. MLB, beware, the clock is ticking!!
This article incorrectly paraphrases Rule 5 in two respects:
First, the article says that the “exact threshold” for determining when a minor league player becomes eligible for the draft “depends upon the player’s age at signing their first contract.” In fact, the year of first eligibility for the Rule 5 draft depends upon the player’s age on June 5 next preceding the signing date, not upon the age on the signing date. For example, Randy Vasquez, who is said to have been born on November 3, 1998, was signed to his first minor league contract with the Yankees on May 21, 2018, when he was age 19. However, his Rule 5 deemed age was 18 because the June 5 date next preceding the signing date was June 5, 2017, when he was 18 years of age. Thus, his first year of Rule 5 eligibility, if he is not protected, would be the fifth Rule 5 draft following the signing (the one following the 2022 season), assuming that the rule stays the same as it is now.
Second, the article states that the Rule 5 eligibility depends upon “four or five years of professional experience.” In fact, there is no reference in Rule 5 to “professional experience” or “years of professional experience.” Although most players who become eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft have played four or five years on Minor League contracts, some players who become eligible have played less than four or five years. “Experience,” however “experience” might be defined, is simply not the criterion used for Rule 5 eligibility. The general rules are stated in MLR5(c)(1)(A) or MLR5(c)(1)(B). Paragraph (A) makes players who were 18 years of age or under on the June 5 date immediately preceding the signing date first eligible for selection at the fifth Rule 5 draft following the signing date. Paragraph (B) makes players who were 19 years of age or over on the June 5 date immediately preceding the signing date first eligible for selection at the fourth Rule.5 draft following the signing date. Neither Paragraph (A) nor Paragraph (B) imposes a “years of experience” requirement for eligibility. In fact, a player does not have to have been continuously under the same Minor League contract since he was signed. For example, theoretically, a pitcher could have signed his first minor league contract shortly after his Rule 4 draft selection in June 2017 at a Rule 5 deemed age of 18. Assume that he pitches at a rookie league team in 2017, but he sustains a severe arm injury and requires surgery which keeps him out of play for 2018 and part of 2019. He plays a portion of 2019 for his original organization under his original contract. In 2020, he doesn’t play because no affiliated minor league teams played in 2020. Before 2021, he is released by his original organization. He signs for 2021 with an independent league team (although the independent leagues may be thought of as “professional experience” by most of us, they are not within the definition of “Minor League” as provided in the MLRs). Suppose the player did well in the independent league in 2021. A Major League team signs him to a new Minor League contract in the fall of 2021. Assuming the player is not otherwise protected, he would be subject to the Rule 5 draft following the 2021 season because it is the fifth Rule 5 draft following his signing to his first Minor League contract, and he is on a Minor League contract at the time of this year’s Rule 5 draft.. The first draft was 2017, the second 2018, the third 2019, the fourth 2020, and the fifth 2021.. It doesn’t matter how much experience he got, whether counted in days or years, whether he actually played or was injured, or even whether he played baseball for a farm team, or literally worked harvesting soybeans on a farm..
There are exceptions to the general rules of MLR 5(c)(1)(A) or MLR 5(c)(1)(B) stated in MLR 5(c)(1)(C), 5(c)(2), 5(c)(3), 5(c)(4), and 5(c)(5) which can delay or expedite eligibility for Rule 5 selection in some cases.
The full text of the Major League Rules can be accessed by anyone who has an internet service provider at Cot’s Contracts.
…
“The full text of the Major League Rules can be accessed by anyone who has an internet service provider at Cot’s Contracts.”
Grandpa died in ’99 half way through reading this………….
64 years in AAA…