The Official 2021 Rule 5 Draft
Jan 30, 2021 8:36:16 GMT -5
Post by Brian (Blue Jays GM) on Jan 30, 2021 8:36:16 GMT -5
The Rule 5 Draft will begin in this thread on Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 12:00 PM EST. It will last for one round.
The Rule 5 Draft is designed to keep GMs accountable for calling up their minor leaguers who have earned a year of service. Failure to do so can result in a GM losing their player in the draft. GMs may draft any player who has one year of service time (over 130 ABs, over 50 IPs, or over 25 Games Pitched in a year prior to and not including 2020) that was left in their team's minor leagues in the 2021 rosters thread (and hasn't been called up since - make sure to check the promotions thread). It's also worth using the board's search function to make sure something weird didn't happen and that maybe the GM has a good reason for not calling them up (such as commissioner oversight) - there's a fine line between holding GMs accountable, which is what we want, and being pedantic, which we'd like to avoid. The commissioner reserves the right to make the final call in any such instances.
You must place any such players drafted on your 40 man roster with the correct service time (presumably second year but could be later), and if you attempt to waive the player at any time during the following season the team who lost him in the Rule 5 Draft has first priority.
These aren't the only eligible players, however. There's also a "friendly option," if you want to draft someone but don't want to take another team's player. You may draft any non-rostered minor leaguer who is NOT on a Pro-GM team and has NOT completed a year of service who was 24 years of age or older on January 1, as long as he has been in MiLB for at least a full year, and in this case you do not need to put the player on your 40-man roster. Historically, most Rule 5 picks have fallen under this second category - most of our owners know what they're doing, so you're not gonna find much in the first category, but there are plenty of solid older minor leaguers out there who nobody owns that could help your team, so do your research!
Picks in the draft will last for 4 hours. If you miss your pick the draft will continue to the next person. You will have an additional 20 hours during which you can make the pick up (24 hours total, first 4 hours exclusive). If you have not picked by then, you lose your pick.
When drafting a player, please post the player's name and position, Pro-GM team if you're poaching him from another team's minors (post "Pro-GM Toronto Blue Jays," for example) or real life team if he's unowned and you're using the friendly option (simply post "Toronto Blue Jays," for example), and, if you're using the friendly option, post the player's age, or if you're not using the friendly option but are instead poaching him from another system, explain why you think he's eligible (e.g. "135 ABs in 2016, wasn't called up")
You do not need to use your draft picks. You can simply say "skip" when your pick comes up if you like. If you would like to help keep things moving, send one of the commissioners a PM in advance asking us to skip your pick. You can still change your mind; we'll still give you 24 hours to make up your pick, but that way we don't have to wait around for you for 4 hours. You're also welcome to leave picks with us if you know you won't be around when you're on the clock. If you do so, please consider leaving a list long enough that there will be at least 1 player still available on your list when you are on the clock (if your pick is 3 picks away, leave a list of at least 3 players). Realize, however, that we can make no guarantees that we'll get your pick up during your 4 hours - we need to sleep too. If you send us the name of a player you want and we miss your pick, and the next person takes him, tough luck.
Best of luck teams!
The Rule 5 Draft is designed to keep GMs accountable for calling up their minor leaguers who have earned a year of service. Failure to do so can result in a GM losing their player in the draft. GMs may draft any player who has one year of service time (over 130 ABs, over 50 IPs, or over 25 Games Pitched in a year prior to and not including 2020) that was left in their team's minor leagues in the 2021 rosters thread (and hasn't been called up since - make sure to check the promotions thread). It's also worth using the board's search function to make sure something weird didn't happen and that maybe the GM has a good reason for not calling them up (such as commissioner oversight) - there's a fine line between holding GMs accountable, which is what we want, and being pedantic, which we'd like to avoid. The commissioner reserves the right to make the final call in any such instances.
You must place any such players drafted on your 40 man roster with the correct service time (presumably second year but could be later), and if you attempt to waive the player at any time during the following season the team who lost him in the Rule 5 Draft has first priority.
These aren't the only eligible players, however. There's also a "friendly option," if you want to draft someone but don't want to take another team's player. You may draft any non-rostered minor leaguer who is NOT on a Pro-GM team and has NOT completed a year of service who was 24 years of age or older on January 1, as long as he has been in MiLB for at least a full year, and in this case you do not need to put the player on your 40-man roster. Historically, most Rule 5 picks have fallen under this second category - most of our owners know what they're doing, so you're not gonna find much in the first category, but there are plenty of solid older minor leaguers out there who nobody owns that could help your team, so do your research!
Picks in the draft will last for 4 hours. If you miss your pick the draft will continue to the next person. You will have an additional 20 hours during which you can make the pick up (24 hours total, first 4 hours exclusive). If you have not picked by then, you lose your pick.
When drafting a player, please post the player's name and position, Pro-GM team if you're poaching him from another team's minors (post "Pro-GM Toronto Blue Jays," for example) or real life team if he's unowned and you're using the friendly option (simply post "Toronto Blue Jays," for example), and, if you're using the friendly option, post the player's age, or if you're not using the friendly option but are instead poaching him from another system, explain why you think he's eligible (e.g. "135 ABs in 2016, wasn't called up")
You do not need to use your draft picks. You can simply say "skip" when your pick comes up if you like. If you would like to help keep things moving, send one of the commissioners a PM in advance asking us to skip your pick. You can still change your mind; we'll still give you 24 hours to make up your pick, but that way we don't have to wait around for you for 4 hours. You're also welcome to leave picks with us if you know you won't be around when you're on the clock. If you do so, please consider leaving a list long enough that there will be at least 1 player still available on your list when you are on the clock (if your pick is 3 picks away, leave a list of at least 3 players). Realize, however, that we can make no guarantees that we'll get your pick up during your 4 hours - we need to sleep too. If you send us the name of a player you want and we miss your pick, and the next person takes him, tough luck.
Best of luck teams!
