| The Detroit News
Once again, it’s time for that (somewhat) blind gift-package grab known in MLB Land as the Rule 5 Draft.
It happens at noon Thursday and the Tigers, as has been their annual habit, figure to be involved in the 2020 roster gamble, which enables big-league teams to select — for $100,000 — a minor-leaguer of a certain vintage who hasn’t been protected on another team’s 40-man roster.
The Tigers in recent years have been among the game’s most active Rule 5 poachers, pilfering reliever Rony Garcia a year ago from the Yankees, as well as outfielder Victor Reyes in 2017, both of whom remain on the current Tigers 40-man preferred list.
The hitch, of course, is that a Rule 5 player selected must be kept on the team’s big-league active roster for the entire ensuing season. That seldom works out, as the Tigers were reminded two years ago when they snagged Reed Garrett from the Rangers, but later returned him for the customary one-half refund of their $100,000 purchase.
The Tigers pick third overall Thursday. It is known they like just enough players to virtually guarantee a third-pick selection. They also, not coincidentally, created a roster spot Monday when they waived right-handed pitcher Anthony Castro.
It might also be remembered that teams don’t only add players during the Rule 5 — they can lose them, as well. One of the risks assumed when a team rebuilds is, at some point, running into more young talent than you can store on your 40-man manifest.
The Tigers are vulnerable this year, more likely in the case of two pitchers: right-handed, drop-down gunner Nolan Blackwood, and fellow right-hander Jason Foley, who has an upper 90-mph sinker and whose four-seam broke 100 mph ahead of Tommy John surgery in 2017.
Neither player has been seen nationally as a serious Rule 5 loss, but both qualify as the brand of pitcher teams could easily gamble on.
Pitchers are the prevailing species from which the Tigers will have options, although it would be no surprise if they spun the roulette wheel on an infielder such as Dodgers right-handed hitter, Omar Estevez, a Cuba native who turns 23 in February and who was handed $6 million in 2015 to sign with Los Angeles.
The Tigers need position help, galore, and could be tempted by Estevez, who bats right-handed and who has a chance to survive at second base. He is 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, and has spray-the-field power that tends to breed doubles.
Note those 2019 numbers at Double-A Tulsa: .291 in 83 games, with a .352 on-base average and .431 slugging percentage. Estevez had six homers and 24 doubles, with 70 strikeouts and 31 walks.
Although signed as a shortstop, he will play second base if he plays any up-the-middle position in the big leagues. While the Tigers are sorting out a middle infield that for now carries Willi Castro and Niko Goodrum, with Kody Clemens as a reasonable prospect at second base, this is a team hunting hard for bats.
And should Estevez not be headed to either the Pirates or Rangers with the first two Rule 5 turns, it’s conceivable Estevez could get a bite.
Other position options will be available. Among possibilities, with heavy emphasis on the word “possibilities”:
► Jose Rojas, a left-handed hitter with muscle who can play third base, or, again, more tuned to the Tigers needs, second base. Rojas, a graybeard who turns 28 in February, is in the Angels system and had this to show in 2019 for 126 games at Triple A: .293 batting average, .362 on-base, with a fat .577 slugging percentage, good for a wholesome OPS of .939. He slammed 31 homers.
► Domingo Leyba, and Tigers followers just might remember him from yesteryear on the Tigers farm. He was a switch-hitting outfielder from the Dominican Republic who had such a nice swing that the Diamondbacks insisted on him in a three-way trade 2014 that brought Shane Greene to the Tigers and sent Robbie Ray, as well as Leyba, to Arizona.
Leyba turned 25 in September and still swings a fine bat — when, of course, he is playing, and not suspended, as he was for 80 games in 2020 for using Boldenone.
This took some luster from his 2019 season at Triple-A Reno, where he hit .300/.351/.519/.870 and earned a 24-game audition with the Diamondbacks, where he likewise was fine: .280/.367/.440/.807.
Would the Tigers welcome him back? Maybe if they weren’t overly bothered by the Boldenone sabbatical, and if — the biggest if — they viewed him as an upgrade over their current semi-undistinguished cast of 2021 outfield contestants. Which at the moment isn’t tough to beat.
Pitchers the Tigers might easily snare include:
► Alex Speas, 22, right-handed reliever: He throws a 100-mph-plus fastball, even if it’s not always a strike, which is why the Rangers have exposed him to Rule 5 thieves.
► Dauris Valdez, 25, right-handed reliever: Another from the 100-mph Club, Valdez is 6-foot-8, which given his control issues isn’t the kind of guy batters tend to enjoy. Again, control is why he isn’t on the Padres’ secured list.
► Jose Alberto Rivera, 23, right-handed reliever: And, yes, he, too, can break the 100-mph sound barrier. Rivera’s four-year farm numbers are consistent, individually, and when viewed as a bloc: 1.20 WHIP and .205 opposing batting average. He is 6-foot-3, and part of the Astros’ typically flush-with-talent farm.
► Garrett Whitlock, 24, right-handed starter: He’s 6-foot-5 and was moving nicely up the Yankees’ ladder until Tommy John surgery smashed his 2019 season. Tigers raided the Yankees a year ago and might be tempted to do it again with Whitlock, who is more of a back-end rotation piece.
► Paul Campbell, 25, left-handed starter: The Rays know how to groom pitchers, which Campbell confirms. He was a 21st-round pick from Clemson in 2017. Campbell is one of those couple-of-innings guys Tampa Bay likes and the Tigers could, as well. There simply isn’t room at the Rays’ inn.
► Marshall Kasowski, 25, right-handed reliever: He’s from the Dodgers galaxy, which is a credential any player loves to take into a Rule 5 draft. He’s also 6-foot-3 and has three-year totals from the farm that scream dominance: 2.26 ERA, 14.80 strikeouts per nine innings, with a 1.16 WHIP. He’s likely headed somewhere Thursday, and maybe to Detroit.
It’s always a bit of a casino game, the Rule 5 draft.
Whether you’re a gambler, or you’re opposed to high-percentage risks for whatever reason, this is ever-entertaining, the Rule 5 Draft. The Tigers, as is their habit, figure to contribute to Thursday’s theater.
Lynn Henning is freelance writer and former Detroit News sports reporter.