ICYMI, McTaggart with a rundown of the players the Astros took in the Rule 5 draft over the last 50 years.
The best picks?
OF Willy Taveras (2003) – 4.4 WAR for the '04-'06 club
RHP Xavier Hernandez (1989) – the Port Arthur native carved out a 10-year career in the bigs as a reliever and posted 2.5 WAR over 5 seasons with the Astros
RHP Ramon Garcia (1996) – 1.2 WAR as a starting pitcher for the '97 NL Central champs. That was also his final year in the big leagues
LHP Wesley Wright (2007) – just 1.1 WAR over a 6-year period with Houston but as the article notes he’s 3rd on the all-time list for appearances by a lefty (behind Wags and Sambito)
RHP Josh Fields (2012) – not for what he did in an Astros uni of course but for who he would be traded for
OF Glen Barker (1998) & INF Larry Milbourne (1973) – both were light-hitting (to put it charitably) and both managed to stick around for 3 years with the Astros
The article’s only focus was on who Houston took in the Rule 5 and not who they lost. In the latter case, Johan Santana of course would head up the list of most painful losses.
I always considered Marwin an Astros Rule 5 pick, even though he technically wasn’t. I figured that, given how immediately he was traded from Boston to Houston, the two teams must have had some kind of pre-draft arrangement in place, since they couldn’t actually trade the selection. Never been able to verify that though.
Okay so this is this flip side–players who the Astros have lost in the Rule 5 since 1970. 22 players taken with 11 players subsequently returned (returnees are in black and technically it’s only 10 returned since we don’t yet know the status of recent draftee Jose Rivera). Beyond Santana the most significant losses were Manny Lee, DDJ and Jamie Walker.
And if memory serves the organization had more lefty hitting OF than right so they chose to protect Richard over Bobby.
Its crazy to think that ANY organization would have enough depth to not protect both.
I know Abreu had the better career - longer and more consistent.
But I’m sure if somebody told them then that Hidalgo would play parts of 8 seasons, 5 as a starter with .857 OPS, 115 OPS+, 17.6 WAR and one of the best ever seasons by an Astros hitter they would have taken it.
And then Tampa Bay immediately after, on the same day, made their first and worst trade in franchise history. Flipping Bobby Abreu for Kevin Stocker.
According to Wikipedia: The Devil Rays and Diamondbacks could pick any player not on the protected lists of the 28 other teams, although no team could lose more than one player in a given round. The protected list for each team consisted of:
For the first round, 15 players from the rosters of their entire organization—both their 40-man roster, plus all minor league affiliates.
Each team could add three more players to its protected list after each round.
All players in an organization were eligible to be drafted, except those with no prior major league experience who had less than three years service if signed at age 19 or older, or had less than four years of service if signed at age 18 or younger.
Players who were free agents after the end of the 1997 season need not be protected.
Stros could have left Derek Bell unprotected and taken the chance he wouldn’t get taken due to salary, iirc.
The draft rules, per wiki:
The Devil Rays and Diamondbacks could pick any player not on the protected lists of the 28 other teams, although no team could lose more than one player in a given round. The protected list for each team consisted of:
For the first round, 15 players from the rosters of their entire organization—both their 40-man roster, plus all minor league affiliates.[4]
Each team could add three more players to its protected list after each round.[4]
All players in an organization were eligible to be drafted, except those with no prior major league experience who had less than three years service if signed at age 19 or older, or had less than four years of service if signed at age 18 or younger.[5]
Players who were free agents after the end of the 1997 season need not be protected.
