The Baltimore Orioles must set their 40 man roster by 11:59 p.m. tonight, or they may very well lose two young pitchers via the Rule 5 Draft.
The Rule 5 draft is a player draft that takes place every December during a winter meeting of General Managers. The goal of this draft is to prevent organizations from stacking their farm teams with talent. Essentially this is an attempt by MLB to “spread the wealth.”
Minor league players who may never see the main stage while they remain on their current teams have a better chance to play if they are moved to a team with less talent.