As the baseball block continues, club leaders are almost unanimous that the draft Rule 5, one of the most mysterious events in the baseball calendar, should be repealed.
The problem with the draft, in which teams choose players off the list of other clubs for their 40 players, is that the calendar has changed. The draft is usually held in early December, a few weeks after teams determine which players to defend on their 40-man roster. But Major League Baseball has postponed the draft indefinitely after blocking players on December 2, and holding it in March or later will lead to a number of problems, executives said.
Most of the players selected in the draft are unfamiliar to the average fan, but the process occasionally leads to a find like the relieving Red Sox Gareth Whitlock or Tigers outfielder Achilles Badu, both were selected a year ago. A player selected for the $ 100,000 draft must remain on his team’s list of 26 people for the entire season. The only way to remove it is to put it on the wounded list or expose it to rejection. If the player clears the waivers, he must be offered back to his previous club for $ 50,000.
Executives spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity, saying the league did not allow them to speak publicly on issues that may be related to collective bargaining. The league will have to decide how to consider the project with the players’ association once the parties reach a new collective bargaining agreement.