Examining the Potential Triple-A Reserve List

Decisions to be made on the minor league side for the Rule 5 draft

Photo Credit: Ryan Palencer

In an offseason as slow as Major League Baseball’s, there’s nothing like a transaction deadline.

This past Tuesday was the date to file reserve lists with the Commissioner’s Office. Typically, the Pittsburgh Pirates would hold off on an announcement until well after the 6 o’clock deadline; however, as expected, this particular cutoff passed with no moves being made.

That leaves the Major League Reserve List right where it was—at 38—but for now, I want to focus on the Triple-A Reserve List.

The wording I used above was intentional—reserve lists, plural. Tuesday was the deadline to file both the Major and Minor League Reserve Lists, and according to the rules, the Triple-A Reserve List can have up to 38 players “through the conclusion of the Major League Rule 5 Draft”. This allows clubs the opportunity, on some level, to protect up to 78 players.

While some of the “marquee” names were left off the 40-man roster and thus available in the Rule 5 Draft, there’s a reason they simply aren’t plucked in the minor league phase, and this is why. The restrictions on this phase are far less onerous—a mere $24,000 will grant the selecting team the rights to the player’s contract, with no roster restrictions like those that come with the major league phase.

So, with the basics covered as far as the draft goes, who may the Pirates be looking to protect?

The same pool of players that are Rule 5 eligible would be the ones being considered—there aren’t different players eligible for both phases. Also, there seems to be some confusion among fans that we are simply to look at the Triple-A roster, but this is not the case. Any player at any level can be added to the Triple-A Reserve List through the completion of the draft.

Based on my handy-dandy guide, here’s some speculation on who I think could make up the Triple-A Reserve List. I really won’t include much analysis here—leave that to the rest of the crew—rather, I just wanted to take the opportunity to explain an oft-disregarded rule and look at some deeper names in the system.

In the past, I’ve assumed a full slate; however, it’s much more realistic that the team will leave spots open to both sign minor league free agents—like Isaac Mattson, for example—and select players from other organizations during the minor league phase of the draft. Therefore, I will be cutting down my projection to fit that mold.

First, I’ll start with the obvious names (2):

Omar Alfonzo

Sammy Siani

These are the players that some could have argued needed to be protected on the 40-man roster. So, it would be silly to leave these players unprotected, as teams would jump at the chance to select them for nothing.

Next, here are some upper-level depth names that could either see the majors this year, fill out the upper levels, or just have a future in the organization of some kind (16):

Carter Bins

Jase Bowen

Jack Carey

Fineas Del Bonta-Smith

Nick Dombkowski

Drake Fellows

Matt Gorski

Justin Meis

Malcom Nuñez

Kervin Pichardo

Geovanny Planchart

Yohan Ramírez

Yerry Rodríguez

Tyler Samaniego

Sean Sullivan

Eddy Yean

Finally, here are some lower-level—players who ended the season at High-A or lower—projects that I would think the team has hopes for long-term, meaning they wouldn’t want to give another team the opportunity to poach and develop them (10):

Brandan Bidois

Jesus Castillo

Ryan Harbin

Hudson Head

Carlos Jimenez

Valentin Linarez

Scott Randall

Javier Rivas

Enmanuel Terrero

Isaias Uribe

To finish out, seeing as I didn’t go the whole way to 38, I thought I would list some players who could also find their way onto the list, but I just wasn’t totally sold on including them in the final cut:

Andres Alvarez

Sergio Campana

Maikol Escotto

Ewry Espinal

Adrian Florencio

J.C. Flowers

Matt Fraizer

Darvin Garcia

Jackson Glenn

Wyatt Hendrie

Mike Jarvis

Brennan Malone

Joaquin Tejada

Jeral Toledo

As I touched on before, it really is amazing how much the truncated Domestic Reserve List and lack of 2020 signings really impacted the number of players available. In 2022, there were 89 players that were Rule 5 eligible, then it went down to 74 last offseason. This time around, the number is only 54.

I know, I only picked 28 players, but that’s a byproduct of not just a small class but, quite frankly, a weak one as well. It’s totally possible that the Rule 5 Draft comes and goes without the team losing a player in either phase, so this process is really not something to get worked up about.

While it’s possible we may get an idea of who was available based on if anyone gets picked, it’s probably one of those things that we’ll never know who was or wasn’t protected. It’s still something that needs to be considered as the offseason moves along—until we meet again at the next deadline.

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