Half-Empty: Tribe Loses Two Players to Rule V Draft

Here are some Rule 5 Draft Basics:

The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor league affiliate teams when other teams would be willing to have them play in the majors.

As in the amateur draft, the selection order of the teams is based on each team's win-loss record from the prior regular season, each round starting with the team with the worst record and proceeding in order to the team with the best record. Any player selected under Rule 5 is immediately added to his new team's 40-man roster; thus, teams who do not have an available roster spot may not participate in the Rule 5 draft.

If chosen in the Rule 5 draft, a player must be kept on the selecting team's 25-man major league roster for the entire season after the draft--he may not be optioned or designated to the minors. To prevent the abuse of the Rule 5 draft, the rule also states that the draftee must be active for at least 90 days.

Here is more Rule 5 information if you are interested.

Here is how 2007's Rule 5 played out for the Tribe:

As projected by many, the Tribe lost Brian Barton in the Rule V Draft today. In addition, a player who was highly regarded before injuries sidetracked his young career, Matt Whitney, was also taken.

Matt Whitney (a former 1st round pick by the Tribe) was taken seventh by Washington. Whitney is a 23 year-old third baseman who batted .299 with 32 HR and 113 RBI and a monster OBPS of .909 between Lake County and Kingston in 2007.

Brian Barton was taken tenth by St. Louis. Barton is a 25 year-old outfielder who batted .305 with 10 HR, 66 RBI, and 21 SB between Akron and Buffalo in 2007.

A look around the Central Division:

Minnesota lost 3 players.
Chicago lost 1.
Detroit lost 1.

The Cup Half-Full:

Last year, the A's toodk outfielder Ryan Goleski and the Phillies took reliever Jim Ed Warden from the Tribe, but both players were eventually returned.

Both clubs will have to keep the two players on their big league roster out of Spring Training camp or offer them back to the Indians for $25,000, which is half of the $50,000 cost the teams paid to draft Whitney and Barton.

If Whitney or Barton end up panning out for another team, at least we will still have Juan Lara. Sounds very insensitive, but as mentioned in an earlier post: Business is Business.

Gooooooooooooooooooo Tribe!

Cheers!