Professional Baseball Agreement

I was working on a piece on the Rule 5 draft and who might be affected for later in the week.  In the meantime, farmstros has published a tentative list of those players who may be taken in the Rule 5 draft if not protected.  I think that from my reading of the rules Brett Oberholtzer will not be subject to the draft until next year, but I imagine that is why it's called a tentative list as the rules are very convoluted.

A copy of the full Professional Baseball Agreement can be found here.  The section regarding Rule 5 starts on page 63 and the Rule 5 eligibility starts on page 65.

The main gist (as I read it) as to who may be eligible for the first time this year would be those players who:

1.  Signed after June 5th in 2007, and were 18 or younger as of the June 5th immediately preceding the signing (those who were born on June 5th 1989 or later); or

2.  Signed after June 5th in 2008, and were 19 or older as of the June 5th immediately preceding the signing (those who were born on June 5th, 1989 or earlier).

There are, of course, other factors.  If the player signs after the end of the season for the team to which he is assigned but before the winter meetings, they gain an extra year (so it is extremely important to know when a NDFA actually signed).  If a player is released and then re-signed by the same club within a year of being released (such as was the case with David Duncan), they will be eligible to be drafted.  And so on.

If you have a little extra time on your hands and want to read the whole 274 pages of the Professional Baseball Agreement, just click on the link above.