Lots and lots of digital ink has been spilt regarding the Rule 5 Draft around here lately, but I figured I’d give one last look at the subject before we can finally digest the outcome.
Given all the consternation—as comments second guessing the decisions of who was and wasn’t protected continue to fly and Baseball America suggests as many as three Pittsburgh Pirates with a chance to be selected on Wednesday—I thought a retrospective would be useful to try and bring some history and perspective into the discussion.
I decided to look back at the last ten years of Rule 5 Drafts—don’t worry, I have a spreadsheet, it didn’t take that long—and see all the players the Pirates both selected and lost, not just in the major league phase but the minor league phase as well.