Rule 5 Protection -- Latest: Brewers expect to lose Eric Farris in Minor League Phase

[Outlander]

Per Tom Haudricourt the Brewers add five to the 40 man roster:

Nick Bucci

Hiram Burgos

Khris Davis

Scooter Gennett

Josh Prince

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/180167081.html

[Mass Haas]

Not to be confused with our Brewer Minor League Free Agency Eligibles After the 2012 Season Thread, this thread focuses on those players who will be eligible to be selected in December 6th's Rule 5 Draft, and considers who Milwaukee should add to the 40-man roster to protect.

 

Remember --

 

Players who signed when 18 or younger are eligible for the draft after five years.

Players who signed when 19 or older are eligible after four years.

 

According to the rules, it's how old a player was on the June 5th immediately preceeding his signing.

 

So in terms of 40-man roster consideration, these are the players not eligible for free agency, but who would be Rule 5 eligible if not placed on the 40-man roster.

 

Players listed alphabetically within level:

 

Current AAA Players --

RHP Jairo Asencio

C Dayton Buller

RHP Hiram Burgos

OF Khris Davis

RHP Frankie De La Cruz

2B Eric Farris

1B Sean Halton

RHP Donovan Hand

LHP Zach Kroenke

C Blake Lalli

RHP Rob Wooten

 

Current AA Players --

RHP Darren Byrd

OF Kentrail Davis

2B Scooter Gennett

OF Lee Haydel

RHP Kyle Heckathorn

OF Brock Kjeldgaard

RHP Andre Lamontagne

RHP Johnnie Lowe

LHP Daniel Meadows

OF/INF Josh Prince

RHP Cody Scarpetta

RHP R.J. Seidel

Current A-Level (or below) players --

RHP Hitaniel Arias

RHP Eric Arnett

RHP Nick Bucci

RHP Tyler Cravy

C Jose Garcia

SS Carlos George

SS Hector Gomez

OF Yonki Hernandez

RHP Maverick Lasker

C Joey Paciorek

C Emmanuel Quiles

LHP Jose Ramos

RHP Francisco Rivero

OF Franklin Romero, Jr.

OF Chadwin Stang

RHP Stosh Wawrzasek

C Shawn Zarraga

[Mass Haas]

The five players "green-lighted" in the prior post have been added to the 40-man roster and are protected from the Rule 5 draft.

 

I don't see an obvious candidate to be "snagged" in Rule 5 by another organization, unlike last year when I expressed concerns about loogy Lucas Luetge, who enjoyed a nice rookie season with Jack Z. and Seattle.

 

Any concerns out there? I also don't feel that any of the five protected were borderline. In recent years, we've seen players added in November only to be removed and exposed to regular waivers within the next few months or partial season (Dan Merklinger, Brock Kjeldgaard).

[Mass Haas]

If you've got a Journal-Sentinel free view left, Tom H.'s blog with quotes from Gord Ash is a good read.

[TheCrew07]

I'm a bit surprised by Josh Prince's addition, but he certainly made the most of his AFL stint, and it's obvious the organization likes the young man.

[Mass Haas]

The 40-man roster, now at 39, including option info

 

The "young in experience" players who are out of options are Mat Gamel, Mark Rogers, Jeff Bianchi, and RHP Fautino De Los Santos (Kottaras trade).

[brewmann04]

Mass feel like the Brewers can make an Addition from other team?

[nate82]

I'm a bit surprised by Josh Prince's addition, but he certainly made the most of his AFL stint, and it's obvious the organization likes the young man.

 

I'm not surprised by it as he would be a lock to be taken in the Rule 5 draft. Prince would make a very good utility player for any team.

[battlekow]

I don't see an obvious candidate to be "snagged" in Rule 5 by another organization

No, no one obvious, though I guess there's a chance someone will take a shine to Dan Meadow's underpowered left arm.

[Tedaldtada]

I would think some team may think they can fix Kyle Heckathorn and is 92-94 FB but he was awful in the AFL.

[TooLiveBrew]

I would think some team may think they can fix Kyle Heckathorn and is 92-94 FB but he was awful in the AFL.

That's the name that stood out to me too, but his injury WOAHs made me question whether or not anyone would burn a 25-man spot on him.

[SRB]

Mass feel like the Brewers can make an Addition from other team?

We could select Matt LaPorta, just because it would be funny.

 

(In reality I'm sure Melvin is looking at potential dark horse candidates to stick in the bullpen).

[Mass Haas]

Since Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second day of October, Brewers Supervisor of Canadian Scouting tweeted today:

 

Putting together player recommendations for the upcoming rule 5 draft

[sheetskout]

No one thinks that Kentrail Davis is a prime candidate to be selected? He's not that far away, has some upside, is a left-handed hitter, and held his own in double-A.

 

I'm betting some team takes a stab at him. (I'm also betting he comes right back to the Brewers when he doesn't stick on the 25-man too though...)

[reillymcshane]

Any players that the Crew might be interested in?

[reillymcshane]

Any thoughts on Josh Fields from the Boston org? Right handed reliever. Age 26. Former #1 pick. 2.01 ERA at AA and AAA last year, 78 K in 58 innings. Interesting guy. Had control problems the first couple of years out of college, but did much better last year.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=fields003jos

 

Here's a look at him (and some other #1 picks available in Rule 5) by Baseball Nation:

 

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/11/21/3675784/rule-5-draft-mike-laporta-josh-fields-eric-arnett-bradley-holt

[SRB]

Any thoughts on Josh Fields from the Boston org? Right handed reliever. Age 26. Former #1 pick. 2.01 ERA at AA and AAA last year, 78 K in 58 innings. Interesting guy. Had control problems the first couple of years out of college, but did much better last year.

 

Looks pretty good to me, though I don't think the Brewers pick until #16? So Fields might be gone by then.

[Mass Haas]

Not to be confused with our Brewer Minor League Free Agency Eligibles After the 2012 Season Thread, this thread focuses on those players who will be eligible to be selected in December 6th's Rule 5 Draft, and considers who Milwaukee should add to the 40-man roster to protect.

 

Remember --

 

Players who signed when 18 or younger are eligible for the draft after five years.

Players who signed when 19 or older are eligible after four years.

 

According to the rules, it's how old a player was on the June 5th immediately preceeding his signing.

 

So in terms of 40-man roster consideration, these are the players not eligible for free agency, but who would be Rule 5 eligible if not placed on the 40-man roster.

 

Players listed alphabetically within level:

 

Current AAA Players --

RHP Jairo Asencio

C Dayton Buller

RHP Hiram Burgos

OF Khris Davis

RHP Frankie De La Cruz

2B Eric Farris

1B Sean Halton

RHP Donovan Hand

LHP Zach Kroenke

C Blake Lalli

RHP Rob Wooten

 

Current AA Players --

RHP Darren Byrd

OF Kentrail Davis

2B Scooter Gennett

OF Lee Haydel

RHP Kyle Heckathorn

OF Brock Kjeldgaard

RHP Andre Lamontagne

RHP Johnnie Lowe

LHP Daniel Meadows

OF/INF Josh Prince

RHP Cody Scarpetta

RHP R.J. Seidel

Current A-Level (or below) players --

RHP Hitaniel Arias

RHP Eric Arnett

RHP Nick Bucci

RHP Tyler Cravy

C Jose Garcia

SS Carlos George

SS Hector Gomez

OF Yonki Hernandez

RHP Maverick Lasker

C Joey Paciorek

C Emmanuel Quiles

LHP Jose Ramos

RHP Francisco Rivero

OF Franklin Romero, Jr.

OF Chadwin Stang

RHP Stosh Wawrzasek

C Shawn Zarraga

 

(Players in green were added to the 40-man roster, as most know by now...)

 

In addition to the players listed in black above, the Brewers also have five players on their restricted list who technically could be taken in Rule 5, all players who walked away in the past two years in such a way that the Brewers still formally hold their rights:

 

Brent Brewer, Jay Gibbons, Michael Marseco, Rolando Pascual and D'Vontrey Richardson

 

We had heard that there were 39 players total on the Brewers list including the restricted players (unfortunately we don't have access to the full list), and our projected list would be at 40, but we're obviously close. I can almost guarantee our "extra" player is LHP Jose Ramos, who has missed three successive seasons now and has never pitched stateside (Tommy John surgery, 2010).

 

Here's how the protection for Rule 5 works, this link helps:

 

There are three separate phases in the Rule 5 Draft: the Major League phase, the Class AAA phase and the Class AA phase. A player selected in one of the three phases must be placed on the Major League Club's Reserve List in the same classification of the phase in which the player was selected. Within each phase, only players from a Reserve List of a lower classification Club are eligible for selection. Major League Clubs select in reverse order of their League standing at the close of the preceding championship season. Keep in mind that the roster size for purposes of the Rule 5 draft is much larger than the actual playing rosters. The Major League reserve roster is 40, while the playing roster is 25. The AAA roster size is 38, and the AA roster size is 37.

 

So the Brewers could theoretically protect nearly all their eligibles at the AAA level with 38 slots, but that's not what will happen. There will be players protected below the AAA level, and those players will be eligible to be plucked with no special return obligation on the other side. It's a way for organizations to supplement areas where they may lack depth, and organizations can also expose players that aren't in their plans to give them opportunities elsewhere.

 

Players grabbed by the Brewers in the minor league phase of Rule 5 in past years include RHP's Steve Bray, Joe Bateman, and Mark Holliman, and utility man Juan Sanchez, who just ended a four-year run in the organization. Players the Brewers have lost in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft include RHP's Patrick Ryan and Bo Hall, INF Guilder Rodriguez, and catcher John Vanden Berg. (Names for the diehard forum followers here...)

 

In 2009, Matt Eddy of Baseball America wrote about the minor league phase of Rule 5.

 

NOTE: We have learned, and since confirmed with a few sources, including his agent Joe Rosen, that the Brewers informed Eric Farris he would be protected on the AA Rule 5 list, not the AAA. Thus, Farris is not eligible to be taken in the major league phase of Rule 5, but can be taken in the minor league phase, again, with no special obligation rules for returning the player.

 

This makes sense. Farris and Scooter Gennett are both 2013 AAA second basemen with limited experience elsewhere on the infield. If the Brewers have exhausted the possibilities of moving Farris for trade value, allowing him to be taken in minor league Rule 5 would be a nice way to give Farris a clean start elsewhere (Eric is still a season away from minor league free agency). It would be hard to imagine Farris would not be picked, but if the 26-year-old 2007 4th rounder is not, that could be a bit awkward.

[nate82]

The Twins or the A's are teams that I could see adding Farris and he could be playing for them in the majors at some point in the year possibly out of spring training.

[Mass Haas]

I've been reminded (thanks!) that a team could still select Eric Farris in the major league phase of Rule 5 if they didn't think they could get him in the minor league phase, but then the tough major league Rule 5 rules would apply. You'd think if someone did want him that badly, a deal would have been already worked out.

 

But an interesting point nonetheless...at least to me .

[JohnBriggs12]

Brewers pass in round 1 of ML phase. No Brewer farmhand selected. Fields was first player selected by Astros.

[recte44]

Different Josh Fields, though. This is the 3B who was once a phenom with the White Sox.

[brwrsfan]

Ferris picked in the AAA portion by the Mariners - what else is new.

[nate82]

Former Brewer Efrain Nieves was selected in the third round of the minor league phase by the Toronto Blue Jays.