It’s the last day of MLB’s Winter Meetings, and that means the Rule 5 Draft.
Last week, I wrote about some guys the Cubs might take in that draft. Given that there are only 31 players currently on the Cubs’ 40-man roster, I do expect them to take someone. They’ve done so in other years when they didn’t really have a lot of roster room and now, especially since they’re looking for bullpen help, it’s entirely possible they could find a candidate there.
Last year, 14 players were selected in the first round of the Rule 5 Draft. By far the most successful was Shane Smith, who the White Sox put right in their rotation after taking him from the Brewers system. He put together a 2.3 bWAR year and was the Sox’ All-Star representative. Also having a good year after being selected in Rule 5 was Liam Hicks, a catcher taken by the Marlins from the Tigers organization. (Fun Cubs-related fact: Hicks was part of the deal that sent Carson Kelly from the Tigers to the Rangers in 2o24.)
So there absolutely can be competent MLB players found in the Rule 5 Draft.
Other than that, there’s not much Cubs news to pass along. You know about the re-signing of Kyle Schwarber in Philadelphia and Edwin Diaz leaving the Mets for the Dodgers, of course, but there are still plenty of good players on the open market.
This is an open thread for Winter Meetings discussion today. If the Cubs do anything, of course, there will be a separate front-page article, and that includes one for any Rule 5 pick they make.