The Brewster

Win Some, Lose Some: Nine Come Up Even in Rule 5 Draft
by Nes Lessman

It's that time of year again! An exciting day for us farm reporters as we get to see who each BBA General Manager thinks can be utilized at the big league level from the minors of their peers. While not everyone gets an award-winning writer to help them along, it's still a lot of fun to run into my colleagues from other cities and compare notes.

Unlike several years ago, GMS in the Brewster are doing a much better job of protecting players. That means this draft isn't quite as much fun as it used to be. Similarly, the Nine are not expecting to lose 100 games again (though they still might) so the idea of taking a flier and then stashing them all year is far less appealing that it was in the past.

Still, there was some action going both ways. The Nine selected two pitchers and in turn, had two pitchers taken away from them. So did they come up even? Well, not exactly, if you ask me and you should ask me, because I'm in a position to know.

ADDED:

RP Pancho Escalante, from Nashville
This 23 year old from El Salvador is a hard throwing (radar guns regularly show him hitting 100) righty that had made it to the AA level before being selected by the Nine. He has a fastball that's off the charts good (with a chance to be a little better) and a slider that's still coming into development. He was 5-4 with 2 saves and a 3.21 ERA with the High Point Hammers, but the key numbers were his .9 HR/9, 2.3 BB/9 and 8.5 k/9 with the club.

McMonigal clearly likes the idea of a fireballer who has shown he can handle AA batters and would have been ticketed for AAA this season. He's probably not fully major league ready but he also won't need to stash him in the back of the bullpen for blowout games. Which is good, because that's where Ollie Lowry lives.

My thoughts: This is a solid selection who won't hurt in 63 and might help a lot in 65 or be a nice trade chip if the team feels they have better relief options.

RP Gerwin Sier, from Charm City
Sier is the older of the two, at age 24, and comes from Charm City's organization, which is known for its pitching depth. McMonigal definitely keeps an eye on their depth charts. While not as hard a thrower as Escalante, Sier can get it into the upper 90s with his fastball, though when he tries with his screwball it often goes outside the zone. His other pitches are just okay but he gets good movement on them. The Jimmies had just moves him to AAA at the end of 2062 and while he was primarily a starter, it seems this Sier's crystal ball points to a future as a reliever.

This is a harder one for me to figure out McMonigal's logic. I'm guessing he sees him as a guy who would be similar to a late off-season pickup for the bullpen so rather than go with an also-ran, try a could-be-something? There's nothing really wrong with Sier, but he doesn't seem to check any boxes about diamond in the rough that are hallmarks of McMonigal selections.

My thoughts: Sier probably won't be around for more than a few years, but he's cheap and servicable.

LOST:

SP Pablo Camacho, to Calgary
Camacho, 25, was a minor league pick up by McMonigal mid-season last year. As such, he didn't have a lot of standing or defenders in the organization so it makes sense that he's be one of the bubble candidates to be left on or off the 40 man roster. He did play well for Santa Cruz, which was a level demotion after being in AAA to start 2062. For the Spartans, he was 5-5 with a 3.45 ERA in 13 starts, racking up a very good 7.3 k/9 vs 1.4 bb/9. His time in AAA in 62 (from, you guessed it, Charm City) was almost as solid 6-0 in 9 starts, 3.82 ERA, 6.0 k/9, 3.0 bb/9, but I believe the main reason he was in AA was to help fill out the roster.

Camacho is a typical bubble candidate and more of an "easy come, easy go" type than a true loss. That's also going to be the case for the other departure.

SP Bobby "Fang" Sherman, to Rosenblatt
Sherman, 31, was one of the plethora of guys that McMonigal has signed the past few years to minor league deals to see who might make a good replacement candidate mid-season and/or a surprise camp winner. 0-2 with one save and a 3.49 ERA for Chicago as a swing man last year, Sherman fit that mold perfectly. A career 13-36 with 7 saves and a 5.07 ERA going out the door via Rule 5 isn't going to cause anyone in the Nine's office to lose sleep at night, not should it any of the Nine's remaining fans.

Sherman will likely have a good shot at sticking wherever he goes but I don't think he'll have a major impact.

That's another Rule 5 in the books. The Nine are slowly getting a bit better, so this column is likely to get less interesting for awhile, but you never know with McMonigal what he might do. We'll find out in 365 days!