Good morning afternoon evening, Athletics Nation!
After a slow start to the offseason, baseball news has begun to trickle in this week. On Thursday, we got a relative downpour. There was the annual Rule 5 draft, plus a trade between the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers, and also the Comeback Player of the Year awards were announced.
First up is the Rule 5 draft, with teams getting the chance to steal prospects from each other by gambling that they’re ready to stick in the majors immediately. The A’s made two picks in the MLB phase of the draft, plus two more in the lesser-known Triple-A phase, while only losing one Double-A player in that minor league portion.