The Braves are returning Rule 5 pick Anderson Pilar to the Marlins, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Neither club has made an official announcement related to Pilar. Atlanta’s 40-man roster count will drop from 39 to 38. Rule 5 picks have to be put on waivers before being returned to their original club. It’s unclear if that has already taken place with Pilar. Assuming he winds up back with Miami, he won’t need to take up a 40-man spot with that organization.
Pilar, 27, has spent most of his career in the Rockies organization but signed with the Marlins prior to 2024. He then had a good year across three levels, tossing 58 innings with a 2.64 earned run average. He struck out 30.6% of batters faced while issuing walks just 5.6% of the time and getting grounders at a 46.9% clip.
That prompted Atlanta to grab him in the Rule 5, which allowed them to bring him into camp and get a close-up look at him. Unfortunately, Pilar wasn’t able to make the most of the opportunity. In six spring outings, he punched out 12 opponents but also issued six walks and ten hits, leading to nine earned runs.
Players selected in the Rule 5 draft cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. Given that spring performance, a contending club like Atlanta can’t really afford to have him figure it out in meaningful games, so they’ll let him go. As mentioned, Rule 5 players need to be put on waivers if the selecting club is relinquishing them. Any claiming club would need to operate under the same parameters, not sending Pilar to the minors. If he clears waivers, he will no longer have Rule 5 status and then he’ll be offered back to the Marlins, who can keep him as non-roster depth.
Atlanta started camp with two Rule 5 picks, the other being infielder Christian Cairo. Taken from Cleveland, Cairo is hitting .179/.294/.250 in camp, which doesn’t bode well for his chances of sticking with Atlanta.
Turning back to the Atlanta bullpen, the club has tried to bolster the group on the cheap. They have kept their payroll just south of the competitive balance tax while signing various veterans to minor league deals, including Craig Kimbrel, Héctor Neris, Enyel De Los Santos, Buck Farmer, Chasen Shreve and many more. That’s a situation that could potentially lead to some tough roster choices, but the club has seemingly been making those in recent days. They traded Angel Perdomo to the Angels recently, opening up one spot. Returning Pilar opens a second. Cairo would open a third. They also released Jake Diekman, subtracting one guy from the NRI pile.
Good thing they kept the receipt. You just never know when you may have to return something.
Just shop at Costco!
“Shop at Costco”…Why is Costco the only major food retailer in America that can make an EXCELLENT store branded pizza?
Costco store made pizza tastes like pizzeria quality, whereas Safeway/Kroger store branded pizza tastes like cardboard. Does Costco have superior pizza technology?
I don’t know but I do agree! Cheers fanny
Sam’s club has good cheap pizza.
“Why is Costco the only major food retailer in America that can make an EXCELLENT store branded pizza?”
It’s not only great (and very filling, lmao), but it’s a steal at $9.99. I’ll go to Costco just for a couple of slices and a soda and it’s under $5. Love it.
The new (well, to our store at least) chocolate chip cookie from the pizza window is awesome! We took one home and split it up into some ice cream. Big hit on home movie night!
Oh, man, those are so good. The calorie count keeps me away, but only if I have enough will power that day!
“Sam’s club has good cheap pizza.”
Believe it or not, the one in my area closed. Liquidated their merchandise (I got some great deals) and now it’s a storage unit facility. I was blown away when it happened because it was always so busy.
Better question, why did they mess with a good thing?
First they axed the polish dogs from the $1.50 deal.
Then they axed the combination topping pizza, which, was excellent and they’d even make minus certain toppings on request.
Sam’s club around here has pretty bad pizza.
So with the Rule 5 stuff, the team that Drafts a player offers 100K to the team they Drafted from.
Being sent back, (if the player clears waivers) the OG team can get them back if they offer 50K to Drafter. (Pretty sure that’s how it works).
My question: how long has it been since the $$ amount has been moved/adjusted? Has the cost of Rule 5’s picks come down in price because it hasn’t been adjusted??
“Come down in price”…I’m not an internet research guy, but I thought the $100K price was $50K just over/under a decade ago?
I was thinking it was $50k/25k, but maybe that was 30 years ago.
Google says it was $50k from 1985-2015
To answer your last question, yes, the relative cost of a Rule 5 pick is effectively nothing. When the program began, it cost an amount of money teams would notice spending.
That said, the success rate of Rule 5 picks is so low that they’re probably priced appropriately. If replacement player quality continues to climb, that might change soon.
Hes had a terrible spring training. not surprised here
When you are returning a rule 5 player to the Marlins your scouting guys have hit rock bottom!
MLB forced them to pull it. It was for a practice squad at $150/day (lol), which I believe violates MiLB wages that were agreed to in CBA.
They deserve ALL the trolling for being cheap for this one.
This is somewhat common. I participated in the phillies tryout about 15-20 years ago
A practice squad, really only done in NFL (where there’s no minor leagues), is differ than open tryouts, no?
My bad…reread….paid practice squads are illegal.
Bad move. Instead of cutting him loose, Atlanta—who’s got a knack for fixing pitchers—could’ve faked a small injury, put him on the injured list (teams do this all the time), and sent him to the minors to get better without breaking Rule 5 rules. If no one claimed him (and they probably wouldn’t after his spring), they’d keep a guy who cost them just $50K—a tiny price for a possible star.
Then, they could coach him up and either use him in 2026 or trade him for something big, like a top young player.
It seems that not many players taken as Rule 5 guys actually stick. The only one I can think of in recent memory is when the Padres picked Stephen Kolek, RHP, from the Mariners prior to the 2024 season. Somehow he stayed on the MLB roster all year with a bit of time on the IL but showed flashes of being someone that can pitch at the MLB level. The Padres have been working to make him a starter and he is definitely in the mix for the #5 or #6 spot in the rotation and at the very least a spot starter/long relief role…AJ Preller and the scouting department may have found a good one in Kolek and with Darvish possibly missing some time it would appear Kolek would fill the breach nicely.
There are guys that can make the jump and all they need is the opportunity, game plan and coaching.
Garrett Whitlock on line 1
The 2024 Rule 5 selected pitcher Molina stuck through the season with the Rockies, even though Mgr Bud Black threw him into a slugfest game 1 which sky-rocketed his ERA.
Long past time for Bud Black to retire.
The dude was awful this camp. I know it isn’t much money to go grab a rule 5 draft but this was a waste of money