The 2021 edition of the Rule 5 Draft has been officially canceled, according to The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (via Twitter). Originally set to take place in December at the end of the Winter Meetings, the R5 was one of the many staples of the baseball calendar postponed by the lockout, and reports surfaced last week that just about all front office personnel around baseball were in favor of simply canceling this year’s draft.
A rescheduled Rule 5 draft would’ve added yet another notable event to a four-week stretch that will be busier than any other in baseball history from a transactional standpoint. Between free agents, trades, arbitration hearings, and the countless other pieces of business that front offices need to address by the new April 7 Opening Day (and likely beyond), the Rule 5 Draft was deemed expendable.
The MLB Players Association would’ve had to agree to the R5’s cancellation, and while the union surely wasn’t pleased about even a one-year break in a mechanism that provides more big league opportunity and big league paychecks to players, it could be that the Rule 5 was seen as a relatively minor point within the many larger items of debate between the union and the owners. Also, since minor league players aren’t officially part of the MLBPA, it could be that the union was simply more focused on the priorities of its actual members.
As it stands, 2021 will mark the first season since 1891 that the Rule 5 Draft (in one form or another) didn’t take place, interrupting one of baseball’s more quietly longstanding traditions. It will be good news for teams like the Guardians, Pirates, Rays, and other clubs who had a surplus of eligible minor league talent that couldn’t all be fit onto the 40-man roster, since now those prospect-heavy teams will get to keep those players rather than risk losing any in a Rule 5 Draft.
However, it could lead to a loaded field of eligible prospects for the 2022 R5, which is presumably still set to take place in December on the last day of the Winter Meetings. A new group of minor leaguers will gain eligibility and join any leftover prospects from this year’s class that still might be left off a 40-man roster, giving teams with more options than usual to choose from come December.
As a refresher, a player selected in a Rule 5 Draft must remain on his new team’s 26-man active roster for an entire season in order for the new team to gain full rights to the player’s services. If the player doesn’t spend the entire season on the active roster or the new team simply decides to part ways with the player, he must be first offered back to his original team for a $50K price. (A team selecting a R5 player must pay a $100K fee.)
The owners and union are why we can’t have nice things. That is disappointing about the Rule 5. We all love a good under dog story like a prospect chosen in the Rule 5 succeeding.
It’s just because of the timing and will be back next season. It would be pretty difficult to do it this late in the year.
Good, as a giants fan i didn’t want to risk losing Corry.
Agreed
I wasn’t worried about corry – it was genoves I was concerned about. The likelihood that corry would bot be drafted and not returned were pretty slim but that calculation is a little different with a catcher and with posey gone depth in the minors is needed if Bart doesn’t work out
I’m with you, but a high A pitcher with command issues probably wouldn’t have stuck on a 26 man roster for an entire year.
Zach’s tweet sounds a lot like “I’m not entirely sure about the Rule 5 draft”
Without a signed agreement, how could he be “entirely sure”.
Not surprising at all, but if that’s the price to get baseball I’m good with it
Shame. I was looking forward to it.
It’ll be back next winter meeting.
Good, now cancel the 2022 season.
Finally, somebody said what we’re all thinking.
Voice-of-Reason, I hope you don’t mind if I mute you, because I am. Bye.
too late Jabroni! Season starts April 7th! now you can switch back to whatever other accounts you have and site and troll for other things.
This is good news for Cardinals fans. They made a mistake not adding Luken Baker to the 40-man.
Baker’s a curious prospect, but 1B types arent common picks and even rarer as far as picks that stick though the season.
It’s a new day for 1B/DH types.
Stinks for the guys that would have been drafted, but i also like a guy that would have been exposed to it, glad he’s still a Red.
Well…this helps the loaded systems and hurts the lower ranked ones. Does make sense….no time to evaluate properly.
They had from Dec 12 to March 10th to evaluate.
There was this lockout thing. Nothing normal about that period
Note to St Louis Cardinals…. Evaluate your talent BEFORE you trade them away !
And Guardians fans breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Cleveland protected like eight players. this means they have a lot less space to work with on the 40.
Yep.. I assumed they were going to lose a few guys, including Oscar Gonzalez and Joey Cantillo.
Excellent…makes sense with the condensed ST now, plus I don’t have to sweat the Mariners potentially losing Sam Carlson.
Not a big deal. It will return next offseason.
Wonder if any teams gambled on this ahead of time? Nonzero chance of this when they made roster decisions. Maybe factored into leaving a player or two unprotected.
Red Sox left a couple of very draftable pitchers, while holding onto Franchy Cordero. Looks like they were gambling.
Thank goodness.. I don’t want anyone taking Austin beck !
okay but why now
Can players who were added to the 40 this offseason for the specific purpose of protecting them from R5 be dropped from the 40 without being exposed to waivers then?
No, they’re on the 40 man rosters now, they’re members of MLBPA, they’re not going to just let their members be swapped off the rosters without going through the process.
When these players all got added to the 40 man everyone thought there would be a Rule 5 so there’s no competitive advantage or unfairness in this. At the time everyone had to make 40 man additions to presumably protect their exposed players, so everyone was working under the same set of rules.
There is a HUGE advantage in keeping a prospect off the 40-man roster. HUGE.
Kind of odd for the MLBPA to really be against the Rule 5 Draft being canceled because while each guy drafted would be getting a MLB paycheck, there would be a corresponding guy that would then lose his MLB paycheck.. Would be odd to me for a union to say they would oppose a rule that would require members of the union to lose their union job.
Im not trying to argue here but some teams don’t have 40 people on 40- man I think
They not only are on the 40 man but also on the 25 man as well. That is the roster that I am talking about. If any Rule 5 claim is kept to start the season, another Union member would lose their 25 man spot.
I’m indifferent on this one. I understand both sides. A minor disturbance for one off season.
“In one way or another” is not true. The minor league phase did take place and several of those players have MLB experience. If no phase had taken place, I’d agree with that statement.
I think the Rule 5 draft needs a bit of reworking. It’s current incarnation is pretty much the same as it was in the 50’s and 60’s. The way farm systems and developing plays is ovbisously so much different to then.
The cancellation is definitely good for the Pirates this year as they are overstocked on prospects who either had to be on the 40 man or were exposed to the Rule 5 draft.
Yeah, good chance that Tahnaj Thomas would have been completley lost. Cal Mitchell was another possibility.
Losing Cal Mitchell is nothing compared to who they would have gained had the R5 been available. Ryan Noda, Michael Stefanic, Oscar Gonzales, Luken Baker, Samad Taylor. The list goes on. Losing the R5 this year was the one of the worst things for the Pirates.
Can’t imagine why they did this. I mean, if front offices couldn’t decide who they would take for the past 3 months, how much more time would they need?
So about 10 guys who may have collected a MLB check, won’t this year. That with the change in option rules actually LIMITS the accumulation of service time for marginal players. The MLBPA is a joke. (And BTW, the “increases” the players got are more than paid for by the new streaming deals; a push for the owners. And they’ll keep all the gaming revenue).
Shafting the milb guys.. again.
Big win for fringe 40 man guys and teams with stacked farm systems. Big loss for Rule 5 eligible players….
Many players might consider a Rule 5 selection a great opportunity with another organization, more exposure, a chance at some major league salary and service time. Some might just consider it disruptive since most selections at the major league level end up offered back to their original team.
The Players Association screws minor league players…again.
Good, now the A’s can’t stock anymore Single A players on the big league roster all year
Rangers are surely happy about this. they have a deep farm and several intriguing guys that were R5 eligible: Bubba Thompson, Cole Ragans, etc.
Couldn’t be because it the most talented class of rule 5 players available. Couldn’t be that at all. Field the best talent.
No good reason why this should be canceled.
Getting tired of people abusing power.
Seems to be off the charts these days.
Michael Stefanic, Samad Taylor, Ryan Noda, Luken Baker, Buddy Kennedy, Izzy Wilson all likely could have found on homes rather than be suppressed in systems where they are blocked.
Good for the Red Sox who decided to leave their 40 man relatively free and had a few guys that would have almost certainly been picked
I couldn’t agree more. Boston would have lost a minimum of 3 players and potentially up to 5 total if the Rule V draft stayed in place. Huge sigh of relief from Chaim Bloom and company.
Dorothy who do you think Boston would of lost in the Rule 5. The only one I think for sure was Feltman he would be very easy to keep all year maybe as a mop up guy. Outside chance someone would take Ward but he may not pitch at all this year. I think it was a long shot that Jimenez was going to be selected and if he was and even bigger long shot he was going to stick. Who else were you thinking was going to get picked?
This is the only thing about this agreement that is good for the pirates
On the contrary. The Pirates could have selected any of Ryan Noda, Michael Stefanic, Oscar Gonzales, Luken Baker, etc. that are all better than their available R5 talent, and likely better than their in house roster competing for stopgap spaces in the MI or 1B or OF.
Maybe, but definitley not better than any of Travis Swaggerty, Ji-Hwan Bae, Diego Castillo, Canaan Smith-Njigba, or Matt Fraizer, just to name a few of the highly talented near-MLB ready names. Right now, they only need guys like Newman, Tucker, Chavis, etc to be viable seatwarmers for just a month and then they’ll get their prospects up in May.
Imagine that.
Cashman’s trades now look even worse!
Bad news if you’re the Orioles. It means three roster spots that they won’t fill with future minor leaguers…
They’re crying in Baltimore.