There's a different sort of strategy involved in the Rule 5 draft. Though it took more than a decade to evolve into a recognizable form and has undergone many rule revisions since, the Rule 5 draft, originally designed to prevent independent minor league teams from hording talent and now serving the purpose of preventing major league teams from hording talent in their affiliated minor league systems, has existed in one form or another since 1892.

In its current form, the draft allows teams with available space on their major league 40-man rosters (the Yankees, for example, have four empty spots at the moment) to draft minor leaguers with a certain amount of experience3 who are not on their franchise's major-league 40-man roster. There is a small fee that a selected player's new team must pay his former franchise (currently $50,000), but the real catch to the Rule 5 draft is that drafted players must spend the entirety of the ensuing season on their new team's 25-man major league roster (though exceptions are made for stints on the disabled list). If a team wants to demote a Rule 5 pick, they must first offer the player back to their original team at half price ($25,000).

As a result, the majority of Rule 5 picks are made by weaker teams who can afford to spend roster spots on players who may not be major league ready but could prove to be valuable in the near future as part of a rebuilding effort. Recent examples include the Tigers' Chris Shelton, who would have been a Rookie of the Year candidate this past season if not for the Rule 5 requirement that robbed him of his eligibility in 2004, and Johan Santana, who, amazingly, was drafted from the Astros by the Marlins, who then flipped him to the Twins the same day for Jared Camp and cash.

Of course, those are special cases and, along with Roberto Clemente, George Bell, two of a very small group of impact players who changed teams via Rule 5. Last year's big Rule 5 splash was Andy Sisco, selected out of the Cubs organization by the Royals, with whom he made a successful jump from A-ball to the majors and from starting to short relief.

A speedy center fielder, the 26-year-old Thompson cracked triple-A for the first time this past July after tearing up double-A to the tune of .329/.432/.565 in 313 at-bats. While that's encouraging news for a team in desperate need of a center fielder, Thompson has shown a career-long trend of needing two cracks at each new level before catching up with the league. Indeed he hit just .249/.335/.359 in his 209 at-bats with the Clippers last year. What's more, he actually spent the bulk of three seasons in Trenton before mastering double-A (though his .281/.362/.444 in his second double-A season wasn't awful and his continued improvement in his third season there was very encouraging). Still, he doesn't project to make any sort of impact at the major league level before 2007, at which point he'll be 27 years old.

Another right-handed starter, the 23-year-old Karstens spent all of 2005 in the Trenton rotation alongside DeSalvo. Unlike DeSalvo, however, there's not a lot of reason to get excited about Karstens. Only one thing sticks out out his stat line. Fortunately, it's the most important: his K/BB ratio. At 3.54 in 375 minor league innings and 3.50 in double-A in 2005, Karstens K/BB is promising, but until he can post an ERA below 4.00 in a full-season league, there won't be much reason to get excited.

Not to be confused with the 6' 5" righty reliever in the White Sox organization who goes by the same name but is ten months his senior, this 6' 5" righty relieving Matt Smith finally showed improvement after being moved to the bullpen in his fourth season in double-A, earning a late-June promotion to Columbus, where he continued to excel, posting a 2.60 ERA and striking out 10.73 per 9 IP in 25 relief appearances. Smith's control is an issue, however, as he walked 4.23 per 9 IP in Trenton and has a 4.60 BB/9 on his minor league career. Also of concern is the fact that Smith got lit up in the Arizona Fall League in October.

A 25-year-old lefty drafted out of the University of Mississippi in 2003, Beam has yet to pitch above A-ball, but that's about to change. Moved to the bullpen in 2005, he dominated the Sally League and pitched admirably with single-A Tampa, striking out 27 men in 17 1/3 innings. He then went to town on the Arizona Fall League, posting a 10:1 K/BB ratio and a 1.53 ERA in eleven appearances. It seems Beam has finally found his calling. He should start 2006 in double-A and could find himself in the Bronx before September if he continues to dominate.

2. The secondary condition for receiving compensatory draft picks is that the player lost to free agency rank in the top 60 percent of a statistical list compiled by the Elias Sports Bureau. The number and location of the picks is subject to another series of rules, all of which are explained as clearly as is possible by Baseball Prospectus's Thomas Gorman (yes that's his real name real name ) here .

4. Technically this is inaccurate. In addition to the major league Rule 5 draft there are triple-A and double-A stages to the Rule 5 draft, and the Yankees have indeed been known to make selections in those portions, but as Alan Schwarz notes in the Baseball America article linked in note #4, those stages almost never produce major league players and are used simply to fill out minor league rosters. Felix Escalona was a minor league Rule 5 pick going from the Astros' organization to the Giants' organization in 2001, but has never appeared in the majors for either.

5. The catch here is that once a player is added to the 40-man roster, their three-year option period begins. Players are eligible to be optioned to the minor leagues only during the first three seasons after they were first added to the 40-man roster. In the fourth season, they must clear waivers in order to be sent down. Bubba Crosby, Jorge DePaula and Jason Anderson will all be out of options when the 2006 season begins.

Any speculation on what the Yanks will do with the 4 empty roster slots? I'd be surprised to see them make a Rule 5 pick, or sign 4 free agents . . .

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