NASHVILLE – With the Rule 5 Draft set for 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays have five spots available on their 40-man roster to make selections if they desire. They’ll choose 21st in the first round of the draft and are highly likely to use their pick despite the fact that the Cleveland Indians, under Mark Shapiro as general manager and later president, made only three Rule 5 picks in 15 years.
Beyond the trio of Roberto Osuna, Aaron Sanchez and Brett Cecil (should Sanchez not move into the rotation, which he’ll be stretched out in spring to do), the Blue Jays are looking at some combination of Aaron Loup, Pat Venditte, Bo Schultz, Ryan Tepera, Chad Jenkins, Steve Delabar and perhaps Jesse Chavez to fill out their bullpen, so they could stand a little bolstering on that end, and there are a few intriguing arms available.
Alberto Tirado is a hard-throwing right-hander who was the key piece the Jays traded to Philadelphia for Ben Revere at this summer’s trade deadline. He’s out there, as is Cardinals’ righty Luis Perdomo, who pitched in the Futures Game this summer. Both have been starters who could wind up thriving as major-league relievers. With the recent successes of pitchers such as Wade Davis and Joe Blanton, teams may be more open to giving struggling starters a shot in the bullpen and, as we saw with Roberto Osuna this season, young relievers can make big jumps and have an impact in the majors.
That makes Twins righty Zack Jones and Astros lefty Reymin Guduan, who throws 100 miles per hour, fascinating possibilities as well, although in order to get any one of those four, the Blue Jays will have to trade up from the 21st spot.
Of course, with Shapiro and Ross Atkins running the show, it’s not a bad idea to take a look at available players with Cleveland connections, one of whom is righty Nick Sarianides. The 26 year-old was drafted by the Indians in 2009, flushed out of their system three years later and spent a couple of years pitching independent ball in Trois-Rivieres before re-emerging in the Diamondbacks system. In high-A Visalia (managed by Crash Davis?), Sarianides had a 0.96 WHIP with 91 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings.
There’s also Jeff Johnson, who came off Tommy John surgery to have an incredible 2015 for the Akron Rubberducks (not a typo), the Indians’ double-A Eastern League affiliate. Johnson had 27 saves with a minuscule 1.05 ERA, walking 19 and striking out 56 while not allowing a home run in 51 1/3 innings. Atkins drafted him in the 10th round in 2011.
There’s also a strategy to use the Rule 5 Draft to try to build some depth. Pick a guy, get him in for a look at spring training and try to trade for the right to send him down at the end of March. That applies to position players as well as pitchers, which means the Blue Jays could also be looking at people like big-armed Astros catcher Roberto Pena or raw Astros outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, should they slip.
There is also a very real possibility that the Jays make a trade to move up in the draft, something that tends not to be a very expensive proposition.
Under Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays made only one Rule 5 pick since 2010, pitcher Brian Moran, who was immediately traded to the Angels for cash.
The Rule 5 Draft presents a chance for teams to try to unearth undervalued gems, selecting players who teams either don’t have room for on their 40-man rosters, view as being too far away from the big leagues or think they can sneak through the draft for various reasons, such as them coming off an injury.
Picking a player in the Rule 5 Draft only costs a team $50,000, but the catch is that the selecting team has to keep that player on its active big-league roster for the entire season or offer him back to the team from which they took him for $25,000.
Every once in a while a team strikes gold in the draft.
Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor-league roster in the 1959 Rule 5 Draft. He’s the biggest fish ever landed, but there have been plenty of other good ones. Among them are Cy Young Award winners Willie Hernandez and Johan Santana, six-time all-star Bobby Bonilla and 400-home run man Darrell Evans.
Oh, and some guy named Jose Bautista.