Phillies hope Rule 5 pick won't be Mr. Irrelevant

The Phils have been one of baseball's most successful players in the Rule 5 Draft, which gets underway today at 10 a.m. from the Winter Meetings in Dallas. The Phils pick 30th and are hoping for more success in identifying undervalued contributors, having made it to the finish line with their last two draftees: David Herndon and Michael Martinez. Mini-Mart, for all his foibles, became the only position player to stay on the active roster of a drafting team last season. The Phils are also hoping that outfielder Jiwan James proves to be too raw to warrant a roster spot on a drafting team. But reports have indicated that the unprotected outfielder will indeed get taken today. Discuss the draft in the open thread below.

Albert the Angel: Pujols gets his blockbuster payday from the cinderella Angels for a reported 10 years between $250-260 million. Discuss that, too, and how does the Ryan Howard deal look in comparison?

Comments

[lorecore]

I guess some scrub team takes him and just wastes a roster spot for a whole year? How is a guy who cant hit A ball pitching going to keep a job in the majors for the whole year?

[rauls grandpa]

I don't know anything about the Rollins or Mad Dog deal. That is all.
-The actual King of Prussia

[lorecore]

pujols to angels, 10yr/$250ish

[nonamePHame]

Angels sign Pujols. LOL Cardinals. Best fan base in country can't pay it's best player.

[rauls grandpa]

Psst, we got a big overpaid slugger who loves St.Louis for sale...cheap. Come on, make us an offer.

[nonamePHame]

Dude, this contract to Pujols makes 5/125 look like a good deal if it is over 250 million. All it would have taken is an extra year @25 to pry Howard away from the Phillies.

The Angels just legitimized Rubens deal w/Howard.

[nonamePHame]

Howard for Holliday and Freese. Get it done, Rube!

[p. Red]

Cubs select Phils' Lendy Castillo in Rule 5 Draft, according to Todd Zolecki

[denny b.]

Way to stick it to the fans who were loyal to you, Fat Albert.

All about GREED.

[lorecore]

Can we cancel Nix/Wigginton deals and sign Kendry Morales after he gets cut?

[2manychefs]

Baseball America says Leandro Castro, not Lendy Castillo. May make more sense - I've actually heard of Castro.

[nonamePHame]

Phils pass on a Rule 5 selection.

Denny- The cardinals should have matched any offer. They are a disgrace of a franchise to let him walk.

Lorecore- Where does Kendry play when Howard gets back? I would trade a couple of prosepcts for him tho, haha. DOn't know what the ask would be.

[lorecore]

Lendy as a converted infielder who just pitched his first year at Lakewood, who the hell thnks hes staying on a big league roster?

[p. Red]

@ToddZolecki: Phillies pass on making a pick in the Rule 5 Draft.

Guess this thread is now about Pujols.

[RedBurb]

Morales has just started jogging. I don't know how he is going to be ready to start the season anyway. Good type of guy to take a gamble on though.

[R.Billingsly]

That Pujols deal is an abomination. $25M is way too much to pay for a DH for 7 years (assuming he's not a DH before then).

And people complain about the Howard contract. Short-sighted, to say the least.

[lorecore]

I'll be pist if its Leandro, I had him as a #1 sleeper prospect this year.

[NEPP]

***Mini-Mart, for all his foibles, became the only position player to stay on the active roster of a drafting team last season. ***

Yeah...not sure what to do with that.

I disagree that the Pujols deal makes the Howard deal look good. With Pujols you at least have the best hitter in baseball and he can DH for them in the later years of the deal.

[nonamePHame]

Agree completely Billingsly. This makes the Howard deal real shrude. If Howard was available today, Cardinals in a jerk reaction would have offered the hometown boy 6*25=150 to make up for the PR loss.

Good foresight by rube, in hindsight lol.

[Zudok]

Leaving Baseball Heaven to become an Angel?

[rauls grandpa]

They sold him on a scoreboard mockup video of the Rally Monkey dancing with him. Works every time.

[R.Billingsly]

Come on, NEPP. You don't think that deal makes the Howard deal "look better?" It is outrageous.

Yeah, he can DH for them in his later years...for $25M. If Howard can no longer perform in 5 years, we pay him $0. A 10 year contract is ridiculous no matter the player. Let alone one who is coming into his age 32 season -- best hitter in the game or not.

[Edmundo]

That Pujols deal is an abomination. $25M is way too much to pay for a DH for 7 years

Why do you think Pujols can only last 3 years in the field? He's been a good fielder for his career.

[Jbird]

not a lot of good players have come out of the Rule 5 draft since the rules were changed adding an extra year of service time before a player is eligible.

[Robby J]

Where will Trumbo play? Share 1B/DH w/ King Albert? Hey, at least Pujols is out of the NL... Does this mean that the Cards are back "in" on J-Roll?

[NEPP]

I think we'd all be pretty happy if the Phillies were an AL club and had made this deal. We'd be saying "Albert can probably play the field for at least another 5-6 years and then he can DH. Even if he ends up as dead money, with inflation, its not as bad as its sounds, etc etc." There's a difference between the best hitter of his generation and Ryan Howard when handing out AAVs of $25 million.

[R.Billingsly]

Edmundo: I think Pujols has been on a steady decline defensively in the last few years. He's not good enough that if the Angels have a good fielding 1B that can hit a little, he would start. In my opinion, of course. I know nothing of the Angels depth chart or what they have in the minors.

[Albert Puljols]

I'm going to take my talents to Disney Land.

[denny b.]

The Cardinals a "disgrace" of a franchise?

No, they'll still have their shorts 5 years from now and the Angels will probably be sold and in financial trouble.

The Cardinals were the smart ones in this one. He's just one player.

[mm]

Phils passed on a Rule 5 Pick? There must not have been any David Herndon Level talent this year huh?

[R.Billingsly]

NEEP: AAV is not the problem. Howard is NOT as good as Pujols. The main issue is the 10 years. That's too long for any 32 year old, in my opinion. I would not want to be paying a 41 year old DH$25M. I don't care who he is. I can't imagine that a 41 year old Pujols puts up numbers to justify $25M.

[nonamePHame]

u pay the face of ur franchise. not to match an offer that is only 13.6% higher for the face of ur franchise is upsetting. Esp when they are "baseball heaven" and that they have the widest "media market" and their merchandising rivals that of the "yankees".

DeWalt is cheap. Plain and simple. Glad I am a phillies fan at this point. I'd rather overpay howard by 25 million of 5 years than lose him to another big market team that isn't afraid to spend to compete.

[NEPP]

The key differnece here is that the Angels can afford to push their payroll into the $140-150 million range while the Cardinals simply cannot. Its a little different when the salary is 16% of your payroll compared to 25%. Thus, the Angels can afford to pay a premium over what the Cardinals could offer. They can also DH him while the Cardinals would have been stuck with a 42 year old 1B.

[NEPP]

***NEEP: AAV is not the problem. Howard is NOT as good as Pujols. The main issue is the 10 years. That's too long for any 32 year old, in my opinion. I would not want to be paying a 41 year old DH$25M. I don't care who he is. I can't imagine that a 41 year old Pujols puts up numbers to justify $25M.***

I dont think he's worth it either but I think the cost is manageable for a big-market club as his production will be elite for another several years.

[J. Weitzel]

New quick thread on the Rule 5 draft. Move the discussion up top.

[shaw67193]

Is there any chance the Pujols deal gets the Cards in on JRoll? He may have become a little more expensive, at least.

[R.Billingsly]

Manageability is not the issue either. The terms of the deal are ludicrous given the circumstances. 10 years? Just because a team can afford it doesn't make it a good deal.

[Jbird]

R. Bill: I'll wager that Pujols will be a better defender in 5 years than Howard is right now. . . . . ok to make it fair. . . I'll wager that Pujols will be a better defender in 5 years than Howard will be when he comes back from blowing out his achillies tendon.

That's not to say that a 10 year deal is a good baseball decision. Really it's more about spreading out the $250m over 10 years instead of 7 (@ $35m per). If you think this past season was a temporary 1 year dip in production and not the new normal for Pujols, he is likely to be "worth" about $30m-$40m a year (however fangraphs computes that) over the next 3-4 seasons. Once you acknowledge you've underpaid him by about $7-$12m per over the 1st 4 years of the deal and you start factoring in inflation, it's not a massive overpay as compared to Pujols real value on the field. That doesn't preclude the fact that better deals could have been had, though.

[AFish]

Without a Rule 5 pick to kick around, I guess it is going to be the year of complaining about Brien Schneider.

[Luis]

Nope Cardinals did the right thing 10 years is way too long. He'll be 37 in about 5 years. They can still get Prince cant they, for cheaper the drop off wont be too significant especially if they nab J-Roll. Instead i think i lost respect for Pujols for not taking the Cardinals offer. RAJ may have to implement plan B now as the Cardinlas are probably in panic mode. Which will put RAJ in Frenzy panic mode.

[Supra Shoes on sale]

R. Bill: I'll wager that Pujols will be a better defender in 5 years than Howard is right now. . . . . ok to make it fair. . . I'll wager that Pujols will be a better defender in 5 years than Howard will be when he comes back from blowing out his achillies tendon.