While Rosenblatt at first groaned over losing their closer Bobby Sherman to a torn labrum that will end his season if not career, the wound turned to a scrap with the reminder that Sherman was a Rule 5 Pick meaning that the salary Sherman was earning( $1,200,000) could be simply sent back to the team that he was drafted from.
This, obviously a rare case, sent huge question marks in the air as to what was going to happen, as the Yellow Springs Nine had only given Sherman a minor league deal with a guarantee of the $1,200,000 had he been called up.
Obviously, he was when he was drafted.
So were they automatically on the hook now? Was this a massive new loophole that teams could cripple opponents with in the future?
As Bobby Sherman’s paperwork was filed to return him to Yellow Springs, he immediately showed up on their payroll, and counted against their salary cap, meaning all was well.
Until the league got ahold of it.
Sherman was placed back in Rosenblatt for nothing, as apparently teams can “refuse” Rule 5 picks coming back to them. We have rules in the game that are in place, but we also have rules in the league that we “allow the game to do what it wants”, such as deciding who is eligible for the rule 5 draft and who isn’t. So why step in now?
“We plan to file for a refund. This is an injustice.” Said Bombers GM Justin Niles. “We obviously don’t have a ton cash so even this $1,200,000 is harmful for our organization. We had claimed Baz Badr off waivers from Yellow Springs but did not bring him up to the major leagues because he is on a similar minor league contract with majors offer. “
“After this $1,200,000 was added to our books, we weren’t sure we could afford him any longer. It makes you wonder what would have happened if we were 11-21 and now 19-13 and riding one game back from being atop the Frontier. We said we’d win 84 or so games based on what we had added, our early pace has us at 96. Don’t sleep on us. This team has a lot of fight. I think we may surprise some people. ”
