Six players exit in Rule V Draft

Tim Lahey

The Minnesota Twins remained remarkably quiet during the Rule V draft Thursday at baseball's winter meetings.

After all the rumors surrounding the Santana Sweepstakes failed to materialize, General Manager Bill Smith sat back and passed on all potential Rule V picks, perhaps the most intriguing of which was Tampa's Evan Meek, who went to Pittsburgh with the 2nd pitck.

The Rays, picking first overall, selected Minnesota reliever Tim Lahey. Lahey split last season between AAA Rochester and AA New Britain, posting a 9.00 ERA in 2 games in Rochester, and a 3.45 ERA with a 8-4 record and 13 saves for New Britain in 78.1 innings pitched. The New Britain stats look promising, the 3 innings in triple a did not.

A converted catcher out of Princeton University, Lahey is a hard worker who's gone through a lot to catch up with the rest of the Minnesota pitching staff. While it was possible he'd have stuck in the Rays bullpen, they Rays then sold Lahey to the Chicago Cubs for $150,000. It's extremely unlikely that the competative Cubs will keep him in the major league line up for the year, which means they will have to work a deal with the Twins if they intended to keep him.

Seattle selected R.A. Dickey, a free agent right-hander the Twins had signed to play in Rochester for the upcoming season in the 12th round. This is a puzzling selection as Dickey really hasn't displayed anything in the past that would indicate the 33-year-old could handle a full time major league roll. Dickey had a 13-6 record with a 3.72 ERA for his hometown Nashville Sounds in 2007, earning himself a spot on the PCL Post Season All-Star team. He walked 60 and struck out 119 in 169.1 innings pitched. He will have to earn a spot in the Seattle bullpen out of Spring Training.

Going in the 30th round to the Washington Nationals, was Garrett Guzman. This maybe wasn't such a surprise, as the Nat's had shown some interest in the California native before. Guzman finished up last season with the AA Rock Cats batting .312 with 14 home runs and 88 RBI's and sported a .453 slugging and .359 on base percentages. The big question would be if Guzman has what it takes to make a major league roster for the Nats. That's a really iffy pick for Washington, since we've not seen what Guzman is capable of at the Triple A level.

Outfielder Rashad Eldridge was a free agent signee for the Twins in 2007 and spent last year in New Britain, where he hit for a .291 average with 65 runs, 41 RBIs and 7 homre runs. This Eldridge will wear a Durham Bulls jersey as we has selected by Tampa Bay with the first pick of the Triple A portion of the draft.

The Twins resigned former Miracle Josh Hill to a minor league contract earlier this fall, but he won't be in a Minnesota uniform. The Aussie right-hander was picked up by Pittsburgh with the 2nd pick in the Triple A phase of the draft. He does not have to be placed on Pittsburgh 40-man roster, so he'll likely be playing for AAA Indianapolis or AA Altoona next season.

Hill posted a 3-2 record with a 3.00 ERA in 17 games for the Fort Myers Miracle last year, moving from the bullpen into the starting rotation, before earning a long overdue promotion to New Britain. He went 3-2 with the Rock Cats with a 4.36 ERA in 53.2 innings, walking 27 and striking out 46. The 24-year-old still projects well as a major league reliever, but he's never been a fast-track prospect.

J.P. Martinez was taking in the AA portion of the draft, this time by Baltimore. The 6'2" right hander from New Orleans split time between the Rochester Red wings and the New Britian Rock Cats last season, as well as making one apperance with the FSL Fort Myers Miracle. Martinez compiled a 3-6 record with a 4.19 ERA in AA New Britain, where he walked 33 and struck out 48 in 53.2 innings, earning 2 saves in relief. His brief 2 game appearance in Triple A was less then memorable, as he posted a 12.0 ERA in 3 innings.

The Twins under Terry Ryan were always very active in the Rule V draft, which makes me wonder if Terry just liked taking part to keep busy at winter meetings. Smith seems somewhat disinclinded to play the game. The change of organizational philosophy is certainly of interest.

A slight draft

Everyone should know the story by now...Terry Ryan takes Johan Santana in the Rule V Draft, puts him in the Twins bullpen for a year, sends him down to the minors for a bit and manages to come up with a two-time Cy Young Award winner.

The odds of this happening are on the same level as picking up the next Triple Crown winner for $50,000 in a maiden claiming race. Which, however, does not stop general managers, including Mr. Ryan, from trying their hands at it.

In fact, Ryan snags someone each year. He just rarely keeps them.

The Twins potentially lost two pitchers in the major league portion of today's Rule 5 Draft, with closer Kevin Cameron being picked up by the Padres, in the first round, and reliever Levale Speigner being picked up by the Nationals in the second round.

Of the two, Cameron probably has the best chance to stick with a major league club. He was on the fast track for Minnesota a few years ago until he was derailed by injuries. In fact, Pat Neshek was sent down to High A Fort Myers as he was not getting enough time behind Cameron in AA New Britain. But Neshak is now in the majors, and Cameron took over for Neshak in Rochester after the Minnesota native was pulled up to the majors.

He got a bit of a showcase in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 1-1 record with a 8.59 era, but on the whole he can be solid. Cameron was 6-4, posting a 2.98 era with 9 saves, 53 hits, 26 BBs and 65 Ks in 66 IPs with Triple-A Rochester.

Speigner split time between New Britain and Rochester this year, allowing 5 home runs in 40 games in AA, but is considered a good prospect. He throws a low 90s fastball and a solid curveball, but his projection into a major league bullpen right now is kind of questionable.

Meanwhile, Ryan claimed infielder Alejandro Machado from the Nationals. Machado's numbers were not stellar in AAA Pawtucket: .260/.356/.346 with 21 SBs in 373 at bats. Nor is a change of scenery likely to make a difference, as he's been traded four times in the last five seasons. Still he may be an insurance policy if Jason Kubel is not ready to play next season after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus at the end of November.

Machado played with the Florida State League's Brevard County in 2004, and entered professional baseball in 1999 with the GCL Braves. He DID hit .300/.359/.379 in 117 game in Pawtucket in 2005, but on the whole, the likelyhood of Machado staying on the Twins roster is going to be slim and will depend on the injury situation.

In the Minor League portion of the draft, the Devil Rays claimed Erold Andrus from the Twins in the first round, with the first selection. Andrus was acquired from the Yankees last spring and spent the season with the Fort Myers Miracle. He's a decent enough fielder but hit only .207 with the High-A team in 198 at bats.

Also gone from the Twins system is left handed pitcher Justin Jones, who was claimed by the Nationals. Jones started the season in AA New Britain, but struggled and was demoted to High A Fort Myers. He continued to have some problems, and did not look like the lefty ace he was in 2005. I had asked him if he was injured, and he said no, but shortly thereafter he was placed on the disabled list with a shoulder ailment.

He was supposedly activated to AA New Britain at the end of the season, but never went, as he was sitting in the stands for the Miracle's play off game against Dunedin.

I rather liked J.J. and wish him well with the Nats. I was hoping to get him to sign and 8 x 10 for me in spring training, but I don't want it bad enough to drive over to Spacecoast and find him.

Meanwhile the Twins took right handed pitcher Jesse Floyd from the San Francisco Giants in the first round and 3rd baseman Brian Buscher, also from the Giants in the second round.

Floyd, who pitched last season for the AA Connecticut Defenders is expected to join the Rochester Red Wings this season. The 6'5" native of Nederland, Texas, had a 4-14 record with a 4.00 ERa in 25 games (135 innings) for the Defenders. The Defenders were woeful last season, finishing 15.5 games behind Norther division leading Trenton, and half a game ahead of the Twins affiliated New Britain Rock Cats, which were cellar dwellars all season long.

Buscher also played for the Defenders last season. He hit .259/.321/.366 in 467 at bats with the AA team. This is an interesting pick up, as I was expecting Matt Moses to play for triple-A Rochester and David Winfree to handle 3rd base in double-A New Britain. Buscher's entrance into the system might mean the Twins have lost faith in one or the other of their current prospects. Winfree, the Twins 2005 minor league player of the year hit only .176 in the Arizona Fall League this season, but three of his 12 hits were for home runs and four more for extra bases. He also had 17 RBIs in 21 games and slugged .382.

Moses hit .297, but only hit 1 homer and drove in only 13 in 21 games played. Moses has spent the last year and a half in AA working on his batting, which was only .249/.303/.386 last season in 474 at bats.

It may be an interesting contest for third base this spring training down in the minors.

The Twins finished off their involvement in the winter meetings with out much activity, although there were several staff changes. Rob Antony was promoted to Director of Baseball Operations and Contracts and will now work in the contract negotiation role as well as taking care of his previous duties. Just in time to, as we get into the arbitration period and the Twins have several contracts to renegotiate.

Also Perry Castellano was named the Major League strength and conditioning coach. (Great going Perry, but I'm going to miss seeing you around the GCL games.) Perry has been the minor league strength and conditioning coach for the past six seasons.

The Twins also added Lee MacPhail and Kenny Compton to their scouting staff. There was no word on which territories they would be covering. MacPhail was recently with the Nationals organziation as Director of Baseball Administration while MacPhail, the nephew of former Twins general manager Andy MacPhail, has worked previously with the Twins organization.

Today was also the last day for the teams to offer salary arbitration to players or risk losing them to free agency. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Nick Punto, Mike Cuddyer, Lew Ford, Jason Tyner and Juan Ricon are all eligable for arbitration this year.

Twins fest starts on January 26th and major league pitchers and catchers report on February 18th for the start of spring training.