Red Sox Select Miguel Gonzalez In Rule 5 Draft

For those of you who don’t understand what the Rule 5 Draft entails, I will use the explanation that I used in last year’s post.

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.

During the Major League portion of the draft, the Boston Red Sox took pitcher Miguel Gonzalez from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Triple-A roster. Gonzalez missed the 2008 season with a knee injury but is putting up good numbers in the Mexican Winter League.

In 10 games (6 starts), Gonzalez is 3-1 with 0.99 ERA for Venados de Mazatlan.

During the Triple-A phase of the draft, the Red Sox selected Jason Rice from the Chicago White Sox and Miguel Marquez from the Seattle Mariners. The Red Sox didn’t lose any players in any phases of the draft.

A look at the results of the Rule 5 draft from all three phases after the jump.