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  • List of Brewers Rule 5 Eligible Players - Who to Protect?


    Jim Goulart

    With the minor league seasons wrapping up soon, we can begin to predict who the Brewers will be adding to their 40-man roster by November (or sooner) in order to prevent other organizations from plucking them in December's Rule 5 draft. All MLB teams need to finalize their Rule 5 protection "reserve" lists by November 20th. 

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    Via MLB.com -

    "Held each December, the Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs. Clubs draft in reverse order of the standings from the previous season. Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club's 40-Man roster within five seasons or they become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players who signed at age 19 or older need to be protected within four seasons."

    In November 2021, even though the Rule 5 draft did not take place later that winter due to the lockout, all MLB teams had to finalize rosters. The Brewers did not deem any minor league player worthy of protection and no players were added to the 40-man. The player many considered as a possibility, OF/INF Korry Howell, would later be traded (along with catcher Brett Sullivan) to San Diego in the deal that netted catcher Victor Caratini. Howell was having a productive 2022 season prior to a season-ending injury in June and is currently ranked at #10 in Pipeline's most recent and heavily reconfigured Padres Top 30. But in many ways, Caratini has filled a critical role for the Crew. The Brewers don't regret the deal.

    Prior to the 2020 Rule 5, RHP's Alec Bettinger and Dylan File were added to the 40-man. Both were dropped from the 40-man this year, each clearing waivers. Bettinger was since released and has announced his retirement. File remains productive and the Brewers maintain his rights for the 2023 season. File is eligible to be re-added to the 40-man as shown below.

    Following this list of 62 eligible players, I'll briefly provide my thoughts on who I would protect if I were in the GM seat. But we really look forward to seeing your responses in the comments. Keep in mind that although they may be big leaguers soon, players like Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, and Joey Wiemer do not need to be added to protect them from Rule 5. Their pro baseball journeys are too short at this point.

    Current Nashville Sounds:

    Current Biloxi Shuckers:

    Current Wisconsin Timber Rattlers:

    Current Carolina Mudcats:

    Current Maryvale Brewers:

     

    My Protection List:
    Brice Turang (Lock) - Most likely won't need to wait until November 20th and will see action down the stretch
    Cam Robinson - Rare for a pure reliever to be added, but hard to dispute the amazing 2021-2022 production
    Abner Uribe - Two pure relievers? It's today's MLB. Season-ending injury was a knee, not the 103 MPH arm.

    Not quite:
    Victor Castaneda, Justin Jarvis, Felix Valerio, Eduardo Garcia

    Just to wrap up, there is a Minor League Phase of the Rule 5 draft as well:

    For the Minor League phase, any player not protected on a 38-man Triple-A roster from that same group can be selected. Any team with a full 38-man Triple-A roster is not allowed to make a selection, but teams can make as many picks as they want until they get to 38 players.

    That doesn’t mean, as it does in the Major League phase, that a player selected has to stick at that level. If a team takes a player in the Minor League phase, it costs $24,500, paid to the original team. The selecting team can then send its new player to any level in its system it chooses.

    Without getting too deep into the woods, the Brewers will likely set their "AAA" roster to 35 to 36, leaving room for them to make a pick or two in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft if they wish. They will create that list from the 62 names above. Those not included will be eligible to be plucked in the minor league phase of Rule 5.

    Final note: You see names on the list above, namely Nashville C Brian Navarreto and RHP Marcus Walden, plus Biloxi RHP Arnaldo Hernandez and C Jason Lopez, that seemingly will not qualify for minor league free agency and do not appear on our previously published list of those players. We have reason to believe that these players are on current deals that extend their relationship with Milwaukee into 2023.

     

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    15 hours ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

    What you say is definitely fair, but I think you should check again on Robinson and Devanney.  This is not the first season in which either has impressed.  Also, I don’t know who Richards is :) 

    Ack! I meant Andrews, not Richards.

     

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    I didn't even think about this, but with no Rule5 draft last year...anyone think it's more likely there is a bit more movement this year when it comes to the Rule5?

    Not with our prospects necessarily, but just in general. 

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    I didn't even think about this, but with no Rule5 draft last year...anyone think it's more likely there is a bit more movement this year when it comes to the Rule5?

    Not with our prospects necessarily, but just in general. 

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    21 minutes ago, UpandIn said:

    I didn't even think about this, but with no Rule5 draft last year...anyone think it's more likely there is a bit more movement this year when it comes to the Rule5?

    Not with our prospects necessarily, but just in general. 

    Maybe a little because I am guessing you had a few teams not protect borderline guys they might have in the past, gambling that it wouldn’t happen (not completely convinced Brewers didn’t use this strategy).

    I still think the bigger effect, though, is the COVID year delayed development for the guys eligible this year. That will lead to more guys eligible and perhaps more close calls. A couple of years ago the Brewers pretty much protected every healthy prospect in the triple-A phase. No way that can happen this year.

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    21 minutes ago, UpandIn said:

    I didn't even think about this, but with no Rule5 draft last year...anyone think it's more likely there is a bit more movement this year when it comes to the Rule5?

    Not with our prospects necessarily, but just in general. 

    Maybe a little because I am guessing you had a few teams not protect borderline guys they might have in the past, gambling that it wouldn’t happen (not completely convinced Brewers didn’t use this strategy).

    I still think the bigger effect, though, is the COVID year delayed development for the guys eligible this year. That will lead to more guys eligible and perhaps more close calls. A couple of years ago the Brewers pretty much protected every healthy prospect in the triple-A phase. No way that can happen this year.

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    14 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

    Maybe a little because I am guessing you had a few teams not protect borderline guys they might have in the past, gambling that it wouldn’t happen (not completely convinced Brewers didn’t use this strategy).

    I still think the bigger effect, though, is the COVID year delayed development for the guys eligible this year. That will lead to more guys eligible and perhaps more close calls. A couple of years ago the Brewers pretty much protected every healthy prospect in the triple-A phase. No way that can happen this year.

    Makes sense. A bit of a logjam. I've thought I'll be interesting to look back at the 2020-2021 NFL, MLB, NBA drafts and see how they compare to normal years. Will we see more prospects who went later in the draft, guys who...say in the NFL would have risen if they'd have the combine process, or UDFAs from the last year in Baseball(or maybe 4th round picks from Cincinnati) exceed expectations.

    2020 is going to have lasting implications for HS kids who didn't get a Sr year of sports, for fringe players who couldn't catch onto a practice squad and prospects who weren't invited to the alternate training site and ended up in independent ball. all stories I'm sure we'll hear about in the future. But it'll be interesting to follow. 

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    14 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

    Maybe a little because I am guessing you had a few teams not protect borderline guys they might have in the past, gambling that it wouldn’t happen (not completely convinced Brewers didn’t use this strategy).

    I still think the bigger effect, though, is the COVID year delayed development for the guys eligible this year. That will lead to more guys eligible and perhaps more close calls. A couple of years ago the Brewers pretty much protected every healthy prospect in the triple-A phase. No way that can happen this year.

    Makes sense. A bit of a logjam. I've thought I'll be interesting to look back at the 2020-2021 NFL, MLB, NBA drafts and see how they compare to normal years. Will we see more prospects who went later in the draft, guys who...say in the NFL would have risen if they'd have the combine process, or UDFAs from the last year in Baseball(or maybe 4th round picks from Cincinnati) exceed expectations.

    2020 is going to have lasting implications for HS kids who didn't get a Sr year of sports, for fringe players who couldn't catch onto a practice squad and prospects who weren't invited to the alternate training site and ended up in independent ball. all stories I'm sure we'll hear about in the future. But it'll be interesting to follow. 

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    I would probably change my mind at this point and add Cam Devanney. Every team could use an infielder that goes up and down during the year and Pablo Reyes can't be that anymore so maybe Devanney can be that person. Turang could play that role as well but thinking they would want him to play on a regular basis and not be the shuttle guy.

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    I would probably change my mind at this point and add Cam Devanney. Every team could use an infielder that goes up and down during the year and Pablo Reyes can't be that anymore so maybe Devanney can be that person. Turang could play that role as well but thinking they would want him to play on a regular basis and not be the shuttle guy.

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    On 9/27/2022 at 8:19 AM, Outlander said:

    I would probably change my mind at this point and add Cam Devanney. Every team could use an infielder that goes up and down during the year and Pablo Reyes can't be that anymore so maybe Devanney can be that person. Turang could play that role as well but thinking they would want him to play on a regular basis and not be the shuttle guy.

    They can keep Reyes on the 40-man, can't they? Not saying they should.

     

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    On 9/27/2022 at 8:19 AM, Outlander said:

    I would probably change my mind at this point and add Cam Devanney. Every team could use an infielder that goes up and down during the year and Pablo Reyes can't be that anymore so maybe Devanney can be that person. Turang could play that role as well but thinking they would want him to play on a regular basis and not be the shuttle guy.

    They can keep Reyes on the 40-man, can't they? Not saying they should.

     

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    9 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

    They can keep Reyes on the 40-man, can't they? Not saying they should.

     

    They could but he’s out of options after this season so there really isn’t much of a point in keeping him on the 40-man. 

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    9 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

    They can keep Reyes on the 40-man, can't they? Not saying they should.

     

    They could but he’s out of options after this season so there really isn’t much of a point in keeping him on the 40-man. 

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    2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

    They could but he’s out of options after this season so there really isn’t much of a point in keeping him on the 40-man. 

    Oh, OK. So they couldn't bounce him back and forth from the minors without exposing him to other teams. But they'll be exposing him if they remove him from the 40, too. 

     

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    2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

    They could but he’s out of options after this season so there really isn’t much of a point in keeping him on the 40-man. 

    Oh, OK. So they couldn't bounce him back and forth from the minors without exposing him to other teams. But they'll be exposing him if they remove him from the 40, too. 

     

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    Nice to have RH reliever Lucas Erceg back for 2023 on his new minor league deal (which, like RHP Tyler Herb’s deal, includes a big league camp invite).

    Those arrangements, however will leave both pitchers eligible for Rule 5 loss, certainly a possibility in the case of Erceg.

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    Nice to have RH reliever Lucas Erceg back for 2023 on his new minor league deal (which, like RHP Tyler Herb’s deal, includes a big league camp invite).

    Those arrangements, however will leave both pitchers eligible for Rule 5 loss, certainly a possibility in the case of Erceg.

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    3 hours ago, Mass Haas said:

    Nice to have RH reliever Lucas Erceg back for 2023 on his new minor league deal (which, like RHP Tyler Herb’s deal, includes a big league camp invite).

    Those arrangements, however will leave both pitchers eligible for Rule 5 loss, certainly a possibility in the case of Erceg.

    Erceg is a flame-throwing righty reliever without much wear on his arm. Good numbers last year. Already 27 and seemingly mature. He was probably close to getting a call-up this season. He seems like the type of guy that some team will easily take a chance on in the Rule 5. 

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    3 hours ago, Mass Haas said:

    Nice to have RH reliever Lucas Erceg back for 2023 on his new minor league deal (which, like RHP Tyler Herb’s deal, includes a big league camp invite).

    Those arrangements, however will leave both pitchers eligible for Rule 5 loss, certainly a possibility in the case of Erceg.

    Erceg is a flame-throwing righty reliever without much wear on his arm. Good numbers last year. Already 27 and seemingly mature. He was probably close to getting a call-up this season. He seems like the type of guy that some team will easily take a chance on in the Rule 5. 

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    1 hour ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

    Erceg is a flame-throwing righty reliever without much wear on his arm. Good numbers last year. Already 27 and seemingly mature. He was probably close to getting a call-up this season. He seems like the type of guy that some team will easily take a chance on in the Rule 5. 

    Perhaps, and it happens on occasion, but unless he re-signed before this could happen, it seemed like an interested team could have reached out to his agent saying that they would give him a 40-man spot. Unless he preferred to stay in the organization, I guess.

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    1 hour ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

    Erceg is a flame-throwing righty reliever without much wear on his arm. Good numbers last year. Already 27 and seemingly mature. He was probably close to getting a call-up this season. He seems like the type of guy that some team will easily take a chance on in the Rule 5. 

    Perhaps, and it happens on occasion, but unless he re-signed before this could happen, it seemed like an interested team could have reached out to his agent saying that they would give him a 40-man spot. Unless he preferred to stay in the organization, I guess.

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    Joseph Zarr
  • Brewer Fanatic Contributor
  • Posted

    Just bumping this as our friendly reminder:

    The Brewers (and all MLB teams) have until November 15th to protect players from the Rule 5 draft (December 7th). That is less than 4 days from now.

    Let the countdown clock commence…

    As many of you know, I will be paying steadfast attention to one of Elon’s finest, INF Cam Devanney. For his latest thoughts check HERE (note: subscription required for interview).

     I think it’s quite obvious (at least, it should be) RHP Abner Uribe has locked himself into protection. BUT, I for one am going to return to consult Jim’s awesome work above.

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    Joseph Zarr
  • Brewer Fanatic Contributor
  • Posted

    Just bumping this as our friendly reminder:

    The Brewers (and all MLB teams) have until November 15th to protect players from the Rule 5 draft (December 7th). That is less than 4 days from now.

    Let the countdown clock commence…

    As many of you know, I will be paying steadfast attention to one of Elon’s finest, INF Cam Devanney. For his latest thoughts check HERE (note: subscription required for interview).

     I think it’s quite obvious (at least, it should be) RHP Abner Uribe has locked himself into protection. BUT, I for one am going to return to consult Jim’s awesome work above.

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