Rule 5 Target(s) - A pair of Twins

[Beef Supreme]

On 11/27/2017 at 6:28 PM, Luke-OH said:

4th edition of this little series.  I went looking for left handed relief options, but didn't find anything exciting.  Travis Ott is an interesting arm, but he's more of a stash guy, since he hasn't pitched above High A.  He'd be a target of mine if the Orioles traded assets and tried to rebuild.

So after failing to find interesting lefties, I turned my attention to RH relievers.  I found a few of interest and two of those happened to play for the Twins.

First up...

Nick Burdi - RHP

I'm not going to do an in-depth scouting report here because there is a lot of information on him out there.  Here are links to John Sickels's write up and Eric Longenhagen's write up, both going into 2017.  Basically, he throws his fastball in the high 90s to triples digits with some movement and life.  He also has a slider that is plus with flashes of plus-plus.  He's had Tanner Scott type control issues, but he looked to have greatly improved in that category in spring training and the 17 innings he pitched in 2017.  So why would a guy like this with elite closer stuff get left unprotected, well, he had TJS in May.  So he won't be ready to pitch until late 2018 at the earliest.  

The question you have to ask yourself with Burdi, is whether he is worth taking up the last spot on the 40 man roster in order to acquire him.  He'll be on the DL all year pretty much so no need to carry him this year, he'll have to get active roster time in 2019 (Similar to the Santander situation this year).  I'd argue that someone with his potential is worth the last spot on the 40 man roster over some depth signing or the Chris Lees of the world.  If he recovers well from TJS, then you have a ready made set-up/closer option in 2019.

Second...

Luke Bard - RHP

Bard has lost time to various injuries, he had surgery in 2014 to do a “latisimus reattachment and a teres major reattachment.”.  It was so bad, the doctor was surprised he could even throw at all.  All in all he pitched just 19 total innings his first 3 years in the minors.  The last three years though he's been pretty healthy throwing 52, 64, and 65 innings in relief.  He was solid each of those seasons but his stuff and results really took a step forward in 2017.  He struck out over 34% of all batters he faced between AA and AAA.  He also induced infield fly balls at an usually high rate (pretty much as good as a strikeout).  All told, nearly half of the batters he faced either struck out or popped out.

Short Scouting report - Bard is a tall, lean RHP who has a simple reliever's delivery.  He gets good extension and has good arm speed, with a consistent release point on his two pitches (fastball and slider).  The fastball is fairly flat 93-96mph, with some downward plane, he can manipulate it though and give it some arm side run in exchange for some velocity (not sure if this is a different pitch 2 seamer?).  He also has a slider that is above average, but plays better than that due to his feel for it and ability to throw it in any count.  It misses a lot of bats and he can manipulate the shape and speed of it to great effect.

Basically Bard is your standard two-pitch reliever with two above average pitches and above average command.  He also has a great feel for pitching, he is fearless and he knows how attack hitters.

Luke Bard was returned to the Twins today. The Angels had recently dfa'd him.

[Rene88]

I like the premise behind the rule 5 but truly believe it can hurt a player’s development.

[Luke-OH]

21 minutes ago, Rene88 said:

I like the premise behind the rule 5 but truly believe it can hurt a player’s development.

Yeah, I’m sure in some cases it can. With Bard it was just a flyball guy who kept it off the barrel giving up a few HRs in a small sample size. He’s 27 and probably as ready as he’ll ever be, so either his stuff didn’t translate or he just got bit by a rough stretch that a competitive team didn’t have time for. 

[Ohfan67]

I didn't know there were some crazy fun Rule 5 picks decades ago. Hack Wilson, Roberto Clemente, etc. 

[atomic]

On 4/28/2018 at 9:41 AM, Ohfan67 said:

I didn't know there were some crazy fun Rule 5 picks decades ago. Hack Wilson, Roberto Clemente, etc. 

They changed the rule 5.  It used to be easier to get good players.  

[sportsfan8703]

I know this is bumping the thread further up, but I could go a long time without ever seeing another rule 5 thread.