White Sox have acquired Lawrie from A's. They were rumored to be our chief opposition for Frazier, so this may help.

MLB Rule 5 Draft 2015 Results:

Adam Wells

Dec 10, 2015

The 2015 Major League Baseball Rule 5 draft has come and gone without a lot of activity, which was expected, but there were still a handful of players on the move looking to make their mark with a new organization.

By virtue of having MLB's worst record last season, the Philadelphia Phillies owned the first overall pick and selected Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Tyler Goeddel on Thursday. The Cincinnati Reds followed by taking Jake Cave from the New York Yankees system, with the entire list of players taken here, per MLB.com:

Pick Team Player
1 Philadelphia Phillies Tyler Goeddel, OF (Tampa Bay Rays)
2 Cincinnati Reds Jake Cave, OF (New York Yankees)
3 Atlanta Braves Evan Rutckyj, LHP (New York Yankees)
4 Colorado Rockies Luis Perdomo, RHP (St. Louis Cardinals)
5 Milwaukee Brewers Colin Walsh, 2B (Oakland Athletics)
6 Oakland Athletics Jabari Blash, OF (Seattle Mariners)
7 San Diego Padres Josh Martin, RHP (Cleveland Indians)
8 Baltimore Orioles Joey Rickard, OF (Tampa Bay Rays)
9 Los Angeles Angels Deolis Guerra, RHP (Pittsburgh Pirates)
10 Toronto Blue Jays Joseph Biagini, RHP (San Francisco Giants)
11 St. Louis Cardinals Matthew Bowman, RHP (New York Mets)
12 Philadelphia Phillies Daniel Stumpf, LHP (Kansas City Royals)
13 Cincinnati Reds Chris O'Grady, LHP (Los Angeles Angels)
14 Milwaukee Brewers Zack Jones, RHP (Minnesota Twins)
15 San Diego Padres Blake Smith, RHP (Chicago White Sox)
16 Los Angeles Angels Ji-Man Choi, 1B (Baltimore Orioles)

Hate to lose Martin, he had some potential in the pen. He had way less hits and way more K's than innings last year in AA. ERA was in low 2's. He just might stick.

I liked Martin also. We picked up a LH pitcher from the Angels. I guess guy named Moran who, wait, wait......is recovering from Surgery. We love the medically handicapped selections!

Padres Josh Martin RHP Indians 25-year-old righthander held hitters in the Eastern League to a .192 average and fanned 80 in 67 1/3 innings

We picked Moran in the AAA phase which means we don't need to put him the major league roster. That's the good news.
The bad is that he's a 27 year old lefty who worked in AA last year. He was injured and didn't play in 2014. He fanned almost one an inning and walked not too many more than 1 ever 2. AAA Rule 5 guys I think never go anywhere for obvious reasons: they aren't any good.
Maybe his highlight season was 3 years ago in AAA with a WHIP below 1 but even then he allowed 6 homers in 37 innings.

Ingraham rated Martin as the "surprise" player in our system for the first half of 2015 [era 1.08, WHIP 0.68]. In the second half his ERA was 4.26 and his WHIP was 1.24 although still fanned 34 in 25 1/3 innings.

Royals have jumped into the bidding for Frazier. Looking for a replacement for Gordon in LF.

In the meanwhile we sign another underperforming outfielder from Houston. I know these are all minor league signings at present but will they present roadblocks to our own youngsters? I am almost at the point of giving one of our young players a shot. Hoping for mini-lightning in a bottle.

Despite signing Ben Zobrist, John Lackey, and reportedly agreeing to a deal with the top free agent of this year's class, the Chicago Cubs are apparently pursuing additional moves.

Moments after reports broke that the Cubs will sign coveted outfielder Jason Heyward, sources tell Jon Morosi of FOX Sports that the team has focused its attention back to starting pitching.

According to Morosi, the Cubs have had trade dialogue with the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians for young right-handers Tyson Ross, Carlos Carrasco, and Danny Salazar. It's unclear, however, how advanced negotiations are between the clubs involved.

The Cubs' acquisition of Zobrist and now Heyward has fueled speculation that the team will look to move one of its cost-controlled bats - such as Jorge Soler, Kyle Schwarber, or Javier Baez - in an effort to secure pitching and clear positional logjams for the incoming players.

Carrasco headlines the group but figures to demand the most in return. The Venezuelan right-hander was signed to a four-year extension - with club options for 2018 and 2019 - during last year's breakout season.

Salazar, while less established than Carrasco, comes with considerably more control. The 25-year-old right-hander won't be arbitration eligible until 2017 and remains under contract through the 2020 season. He authored a 3.45 ERA over 185 innings in 2015, his first full season as a starter.

The Padres' Ross has been the subject of persistent trade rumors dating back to last season, and is projected to nearly double his 2014 salary ($5.25 million) in arbitration this winter. He's slated to become a free agent after the 2017 season.

If'n your thinking what I am thinking hillbilly, I do sense a trade with the Cubs for Salazar and parts bringing up a power position player. Let's hope for a Montreal type of haul.

Schwarber is simply an incredible talent.

Then again, Soler and Baez are right handed hitters.

I'm guessing Schwarber is not touchable for a Salazar-type starter but could be wrong. If he is, I'd be barking up that tree.

I have been listening to AM 1000 out of Chicago all week. They have been saying since Lackey was signed and the Cubs fans were disappointed to just wait a little while. That they had been told that the Cubs would sign Heywood and that Soler would be traded to the Indians or Padres for a more front line starting pitcher type. That was on Monday.

Soler is the worst of the bunch. I'd much prefer Baez and Schwarber. And me personally, for me to trade either Carrasco or Salazar it would take both of them.