2011 Rule 5 Draft: Live Blog

UPDATE 10:40am: I wish a lot of luck to Marty Popham and Donnie Webb. Triple-A phase guys can have value, as we have seen with lefty Matt Meyers who was selected in the Triple-A phase two years ago and is now a candidate to pitch with the Angels sometime this year.

Popham will be missed the most, but he is going to a better opportunity. Right now the Indians have a system flooded with pitching at the upper levels and when projecting out the Double-A pitching staff to start 2012 it was hard to see a spot for him. The Indians have so much depth and guys with similar abilities that even though he should have probably been in Double-A this past season he ended up pitching almost the entire year at High-A Kinston. He is a big, physical pitcher who throws in the low 90s and has gotten it up to 95 MPH in the past, and has a slider and changeup which has some potential as solid-average pitches. I will post his full 2011 scouting report shortly.

Webb has been bothered by numerous injuries the last two seasons which have really hurt his development. He is a good defender with nice speed, but the bat is way too inconsistent and he had really become an organizational player. This will give him an opportunity elsewhere where maybe he can get more Triple-A exposure, something of which was not going to happen with the Indians. I will post his full 2011 scouting report shortly as well.

As an FYI, I had Popham ranked 55th and Webb 90th in my 2011 Indians prospect rankings. For 2012, Webb would have been off the Top 100 listing and Popham in the mid-40s.

UPDATE 10:35am: The Rule 5 Draft is over and the Indians did not select anyone in any phase. No one was selected as expected in the Major League phase, but they did lose right-handed pitcher Marty Popham (Twins) and outfielder Donnie Webb (Marlins) in the Triple-A phase. The Indians did not lose anyone in the Double-A phase.

UPDATE 10:23am: The Indians have lost outfielder Donnie Webb to the Marlins in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft. Like with Popham, he is now 100% the property of his new team.

UPDATE 10:20am: The Indians have lost right-handed pitcher Marty Popham to the Twins in the Triple-A Phase of the Rule 5 Draft. He is 100% the property of the Twins and will not be returned.

UPDATE 10:13am: The MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft is over and only 12 players in total were selected. As expected there were no Indians selected in the draft. The Triple-A phase will start shortly.

UPDATE 10:05am: The Indians have not made a roster move prior to the start of the Rule 5 Draft to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. They are not eligible to participate in the Major League phase.

9:19am: I will be updating this posting with news and notes from today’s Rule 5 Draft, though I have to say in advance that I expect the updates to be minimal mostly because the Indians are not going to draft anyone (at least in the Major League phase) and it appears that there is only a low possibility anyone gets drafted. As new updates come in I will timestamp them and log them on top of each previous update in this posting.

The draft starts in about 45 minutes at 10:00am ET. Here are a few quick notes leading up to the start of the draft:

- I want to first apologize for a complete oversight on my part, but in yesterday's Rule 5 preview I did not include infielder Jared Goedert. He is indeed eligible to be drafted, and there is a small chance he could be selected. He has some good power and is versatile where he can play third base and first base as well as some second base or left field in a pinch, so he could be inviting to some teams as a possible right-handed bat option off the bench. He has had some durability issues that have prevented him from reaching the big leagues, but if he can stay healthy he should get a shot to play in the big leagues some day in at least a limited bench role. I'd put him near the top of the list of Indians' eligibles that could be selected today.

- I keep hearing from a lot of people that if any player is chosen from the Indians the most likely player will be left-handed pitcher T.J. McFarland. He can start or relieve and while he does not throw hard he has a very nice sinker and has consistently shown an ability to get left-handers out. He could be a guy taken by a team that is looking to take a flier on a possible left-on-left bullpen option. We saw it two years ago when the Brewers selected Chuck Lofgren. It only takes one team to be interested. Teams may only see a pitcher throw two times over a whole season, so if he was just on with all of his stuff and mechanics those one or two outings (or off with everything) it can really affect how they are viewed and how their season ending reports are written up by that team.

- The Royals are supposedly looking for a left-handed reliever in the draft, so McFarland could be a potential fit. As would any of Eric Berger or Francisco Jimenez. But assuming they want a power arm from the left side with solid command it pretty much eliminates all of the Indians pitchers I just listed. If the velocity is not that important, then I think McFarland could be an option.

- Ultimately, the only player I am worried about losing in this draft is probably left-handed pitcher Elvis Araujo. Even though he is very talented, it would be a big surprise to see a team take such an unpolished pitcher who has only two years of pro pitching experience, one season pitching stateside, just two games above rookie ball and never pitching in a full season league. He has only thrown 126.2 innings in his minor league career, and while he is one of the Indians' top prospects because of his size, stuff, and ability, it appears he is just too raw for a team to select and even consider using him on a big league roster. At least that is the hope. The idea of selecting him and just stashing him all season on a big league roster would not make much sense as he needs to pitch and develop and it could ruin his chances to becomes the pitcher teams think he could end up being. But, again, it only takes one team.

- As we saw with right-handed pitcher Jose Flores last year, a team will take a chance on power. Knowing this, I think someone may select right-handed pitcher Bryce Stowell just because of his past history of hitting 100 MPH in 2010. His velocity was down considerably this past season and a lot of teams have some concerns of what was truly wrong with him that caused him to miss the first two months of the season and prevented him from making an appearance at Triple-A, the place he ended up at in 2010. Once again, it takes just one team willing to take a look.

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).

Posted in: Rule 5 Draft