DiNardo did have one good season with the Red Sox. That’s more than can be said of any of the Yankee Rule Fives.

Of, if I could only take back that throwaway line about Cashman and be spared such a tirade of sarcasm. I should have just said the Yankees have not done well with Rule 5.

It’s time like these that make writers wonder whether it’s all worth it.

Doh!

If it was “pretty much a throwaway line” then why bother with an entire paragraph leading up to it as the conclusion?

It’s not so much that the Yankees haven’t found a gem in Rule 5, it’s that they haven’t even found a good role player or even a backup or middle reliever with some staying power. The Phillies got Shane Victorino in Rule Five,

Ah, Shane Victorino, I was hoping you’d bring him up.

Yes, the Phillies selected Victorino in the 2004 Rule 5 draft (n.b. 7th pick).

Subsequently, Victorino impressed the Phillies SO much in Spring Training, hitting .167 in 54 at bats, they promptly offered him BACK to the Dodgers, who refused to pay, allowing the Phillies to keep Victorino AND, more importantly, send him to the minors and take him off the 25 man roster.

Which, of course, was the other, more critical reason the Phillies had offered him back to the Dodgers; they couldn’t afford to keep him on the 25 man roster the entire year, since they expected to battle the Braves for the NL East title in 2005 (which they did).

Thus underlining again the point I made above about the type of teams that can and can’t afford to take chances with keeping Rule 5 picks on their active roster for an entire season.

Red Sox got Lenny DiNardo, who was nothing special but did manage to stay on the roster for three seasons.

Nothing special?

That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.

DiNardo *did* pitch parts of 3 seasons for the Red Sox.

He appeared in 43 games, pitched 81.1 innings, gave up 108 hits and 37 walks and 50 earned runs.

That works out to a scintillating 5.55 ERA, 1.78 WHIP and a grand total of 0.6 Wins Above Replacement as the return on a three year investment.

If your question is, “Why can’t Cashman find players like Lenny DiNardo in the Rule 5 Draft?”

My question is, “Why would he want to?”

The Yankees’ Rule 5 picks don’t even seem to last one season. Josh Phelps is the only one I can remember of recent vintage who even stuck for part of the season.

And?

Since the rules of the Rule 5 Draft were changed with the 2006 CBA (see below), the 7 teams I mentioned in my previous post have selected 11 players in Rule 5 drafts (not including 2010).

Of those 11 players, 1 player stuck for part of a season (Phelps) and 2 players were kept for the entire season.

Brian Barton stuck with the Cardinals in 2008, accumulating 150+ at bats and delieving 1.0 WAR. He was so highly considered that the Cardinals traded him to the Braves in 2009, where he only managed 1 at bat before being released. He’s now on his 4th organization since.

David Herndon, surprisingly (Goldstein gave him 35-1 odds) stuck with the Phillies and put up a 0.4 WAR for the Phillies in 2010. Despite beating the odds last year, it’s doubtful that Herndon’s ever going to be anything more than a fungible, 12th man on the staff kind of pitcher, since he lacks stuff and the ability to strike people out.

You can say, well the Yankees can’t even find a Herndon, but again, the response is, why do they need to?

It’s not like they don’t have the equivalent, or better sitting, waiting in the minors (almost all of whom have options and don’t tie the Yankees hands over a spot on the 25 man roster) …

The Hoffmann pick was just bad. He was the first pick, and wasn’t even close to being considered the best minor leaguer available.

I realize that Rule 5 is a longshot grab bag, but the Yankees could have done a little bit better with some of their picks.

From 2001 through 2009, Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox (who seem an appropriate surrogate) picked 9 players in the Rule 5 Draft.

3 players lasted part of a season, totaling 32 Plate Appearances, 3.2 Innings Pitched and -0.3 WAR.

1 player lasted 3 seasons, totaling 81.1Innings Pitched and 0.6 WAR.

I guess congratulations are in order to the Boston Red Sox for their excellence in Rule 5 Drafting!

10 years of picking players in the Rule 5 Draft and a *whopping* total of 32 plate appearances, 85 Innings Pitched and 0.3 WAR to show for it.

The Boston Red Sox, “a little bit better” than the New York Yankees at the Rule 5 Draft!

***

Finally, the CBA signed in 2006 changed some of the rules of the Rule 5 Draft, specifically adding one year to the time that a team can control its minor league players before having to place them on the 40 man roster or leave them exposed to the Rule 5 draft.

Teams are now afforded an extra year to observe their players’ development (4 years for players drafted/signed age 19 or older and 5 for players drafted/signed 18 and younger) , leading Kevin Goldstein to write, in his preview of the 2009 Rule 5 Draft:

The extra year of protection added in 2006 has made the Rule 5 draft even more of a dart toss than previous years, with one team official commenting, “What were once thin pickings is now downright anorexic.”

Cult, my line on Cashman was pretty much a throwaway line, but since you didn’t like it, I’ll respond. It’s not so much that the Yankees haven’t found a gem in Rule 5, it’s that they haven’t even found a good role player or even a backup or middle reliever with some staying power. The Phillies got Shane Victorino in Rule Five, and the Red Sox got Lenny DiNardo, who was nothing special but did manage to stay on the roster for three seasons. The Yankees’ Rule 5 picks don’t even seem to last one season. Josh Phelps is the only one I can remember of recent vintage who even stuck for part of the season.

The Hoffmann pick was just bad. He was the first pick, and wasn’t even close to being considered the best minor leaguer available.

I realize that Rule 5 is a longshot grab bag, but the Yankees could have done a little bit better with some of their picks.

“(Molina)’s a guy we’re looking at,” he said. “With Cervi going down, and you have young kids that you really consider as everyday players, prospects. You want them to play everyday. If you feel there’s a need that you have to take one of them, you will. Molina does have big league experience. We’ve given the young kids a lot of looks, and we’re giving Molina some looks now too so that we feel that we’re making the right decision, what’s right for everyone, the team (and) these young guys careers.

“These are kids that have only caught every day one year. The determination is, do you want to take them out of that for a month (or) a month and a half and retard their development a little bit? That’s a decision we have to make. Or do you want to go with a veteran guy who has caught in the major leagues and knows how to do it?”

Sounds like Montero to AAA and Romine to AA to me …

This is just silly.

The rule 5 draft is like looking for a needle in a haystack, a REALLY big haystack.

Seriously, take a look at the draft listings over the last 10 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_5_draft_results

The VAST majority of picks get returned and even those that DO stick, usually don’t amount to much, certainly not in their 1st year.

And, of course, for the Yankees, the Rule 5 draft is like looking for a needle in a REALLY big haystack, after 25+ guys have gone through it with a metal detector.

Here’s where some of the Rule 5 gems have been found:

Santana 1999 2nd pick Twins
Bautista 2003 6th pick Orioles*
Uggla 2005 8th pick Marlins
Soria 2006 2nd pick Royals
Hamilton 2006 3rd pick (for) Cincinnati

*Bautista isn’t really a Rule 5 draft success story like the others, it would be 5 years and 5 organizations after being a Rule 5 selection that he would finally break out.

Just like with the June amateur draft, if the Yankees team is winning, they’ll never have a high draft position.

Now, unlike the June draft, the Yankees *could* trade up in the Rule 5 if they saw someone they really wanted (they did this in 2009 to acquire Jamie Hoffman), but again, the rules of the draft work against the Yankees finding success in it, since the claiming team must keep the player claimed on the 25 man roster (except for injury) for the entire year or forfeit the pick.

For a contending team, like the Yankees, that means the player must produce immediately or effectively force the team to operate at roster disadvantage for 5 months.

Bad teams, like the Marlins, Royals, Reds or Orioles can afford to take chances on playing time for Rule 5 guys, they have the roster room to spare and a lack of immediate pressure to produce; championship contending teams don’t. Case in point, all the Rule 5 draft success that the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Phillies, Cardinals, White Sox and Braves have had in the last 10 years.

Oh, right, they haven’t.