On the surface, it seems silly to be discussing the Rule 5 draft at the start of July. The event is in December, and players don’t need to be protected until mid-November. The event previously got a lot of hype because of the players the Pirates could potentially add at the top of the draft, although those players didn’t amount to much (Evan Meek was the best of the group), and the last two years the Pirates haven’t even taken a player.
There’s also the aspect of potentially losing prospects, which hasn’t been an issue for the Pirates either in recent years.