Winter Meetings Roundup: Day 4

First off, let me say that the I am happy the Winter Meetings are over because for the most part it’s been one big rumor mill.

Before getting to the Rule 5 draft results, let’s take a look at what else happened or didn’t happen on the final day in Nashville.

Former Astros GM Tim Purpura was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of MiLB.

The Washington Nationals signed free agent 1B/3B Aaron Boone to a 1-year $1 million deal and re-signed Wily Mo Peña and Ryan Langerhans to one year deals. Wily Mo’s contract is for $2 million plus an option while Langerhans will get $500,000.

Jay Marshall returns to the Oakland A’s after being claimed off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had claimed Marshall after the season but put him on waivers yesterday.

Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons received 15-day suspensions for violating MLB’s drug policy. They had allegedly bought HGH and were implicated in the on going investigation of Signature Pharamacy and a wellness center in Palm Beach, Florida. Gibbons did admit yesterday that he did take HGH.

The Yankees engaged the Giants in talks about Hideki Matsui.

The Red Sox left the winter meetings without Johan Santana on their roster. Theo Epstein said that they will still be talking with the Twins as they (Twins) decide what they want to do with him.

A look at how the Rule 5 draft works and the results after the jump.

For those who don’t know what the Rule 5 draft is, I will leave it to the fine folks at Baseball America to explain it to you.

Included in the new CBA, which went into effect last October, was an alteration to the Rule 5, giving teams an extra year of protection to further aid the development process. Instead of clubs having three years (for players signed at age 19 or older) or four years (for players 18 and younger) to wait before adding players to the major league 40-man roster, they now have four and five years.

The Rule 5 draft is split into two segments: In the major league phase, clubs draft eligible players off Triple-A reserve lists. Players selected in the major league phase of the draft cost $50,000 each and must remain on the selecting team’s big league roster for all of the 2008 season or be offered back to the player’s original team for $25,000.

The minor league phase is split into two sections—the Triple-A phase and the Double-A phase. In the Triple-A phase, clubs draft players off Double-A reserve lists for $12,000 apiece; in the Double-A phase, clubs draft players off Class A reserve lists for $4,000 each. In neither case do players drafted have to be returned to their original team.

Here is a look at the results of the Rule 5 draft from all three phases.

Lahey was traded from the Rays to the Cubs after the draft and doesn’t have to stay on the Cubs 25-man roster in 2008. The Reds traded Guevara to the Padres for cash after the draft as well. The Red Sox did lose 3 pitchers who didn’t factor into the 25-man roster for 2008.