The Cincinnati Reds selected outfielder/catcher Blake Sabol from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the MLB version of the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday evening as the winter meetings came to a close. Cincinnati then traded him to the San Francisco Giants less than two hours later for a player to be named later and cash considerations. In the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft the team picked up two right-handed pitchers, selecting Kyle Glogoski in the 1st round and Brooks Crawford in the 2nd round.
The rules for the minor league version of the Rule 5 draft after very different. In the big leagues players that are selected will have to remain on the MLB roster all season or be offered back. In the minor league phase of the Rule 5 that doesn’t apply at all – a player selected is able to be placed on any of the minor league rosters for their new team and there are no restrictions.
Kyle Glogoski
The New Zealand native is probably familiar to some players he’ll be joining in the spring. Back in 2019 while playing for the Clearwater Phillies he started a no-hitter against the Daytona Tortugas in his High-A debut. Glogoski covered the first five innings of that game before two relievers came on to finish things out.
The 6′ 2″ right-handed pitcher didn’t pitch much in 2021. After the first month of the season he spent the next three months on the injured list before returning to pitch on a rehab assignment in complex ball. In 2022 he was back in A-ball. He missed the first five weeks of the season before heading back to Clearwater in Single-A. He pitched in relief for two games there before joining High-A Jersey Shore. He spent the rest of the season there where he made 12 starts and four relief appearances. Between the two stops he posted a 2.78 ERA in 68.0 innings with 24 walks and 80 strikeouts.
The Florida State League, where he pitched his first two games of the season, has Hawkeye at the ballparks he pitched in. Thanks to that data being public we can see that he was throwing a fastball (87-90 MPH), a change up (upper 70’s), and a slider (upper 70’s). He dominated right-handed hitters, holding them to a .207/.298/.300 line during the season. Lefties hit .248/.296/.457 against him during the year. You can see his career stats here.
Brooks Crawford
The 26-year-old out of Clemson had a good season with High-A Eugene in 2022. He posted a 3.18 ERA in 43 games out of the bullpen, pitching 56.2 innings with 20 walks and 64 strikeouts. Much of his season came as a 25-year-old. Crawford was dominant throughout the season with the lone exception of July. During the month of July he posted a 6.57 ERA. Over the course of the rest of the season he had an ERA of 2.23. You can see his career stats here.
Don’t think Sabol even got to finish his cup of coffee!
Not a single player from our farm was selected by another team. Either Krall did an excellent job of protecting the right ones and sliding the others through, or we didn’t have anything work taking. Glass half full or half empty?
Tells a lot about the state of the Cincinnati Reds. I am wondering why with a limited budget, the Reds attended the meeting at all. Seems they could have saved the money and skyped into the meetings to do their picks. Perhaps the budget is only for players in which case they should have shed some dead weight in Moose and Votto. Both are nothing but Griffey Busts.
Not everything that results from the winter meetings becomes final during the actual time frame of the winter meetings. Groundwork is often laid for moves that come later.
Both guys coming off relatively good seasons. Low risk but not exactly high gain. Filling out rosters.
I don’t understand why you don’t take a chance on someone. Gotta be a better option than Senzel and Moustakas!
I’m REALLY interested to see who the PBTNL is. I would imagine that there are two lists – one if Sabol doesn’t make the roster, and another if he does.
If Sabol breaks camp with the Giants, you’ve gotta think there’s a pretty good prospect coming to the Reds. If not, the Reds wasted a chance to add a guy like Kevin Kelly, that would have made the roster.
At the extreme minimum it has to include any Giant MiLB player eligible under the Rule 5 draft. IOW, at least we get to pick unprotected Giant MiLB players no longer subject to the Rule 5 return rule. Then, the cash and a list of other players available, and perhaps a contingent list of even more if Sabol does make the roster in the Spring, and perhaps even more, the longer he stays on the roster.
These are all flyers/lottery picks to some extent, but a sharp front office can at least get some quantity to expose some quality.
Well, these guys were clearly expendable by their previous teams for a reason.
Crawford is currently 26 and has never pitched above high A ball.
While Glogoski turns 24 in a few weeks, and has only pitched 14 innings above A ball, to the tune of an 11.48 ERA.
Very bizarre selections for sure. They could have had Kevin Kelly but passed on him and TB Rays took him. I think a lot of people respect the TB talent evaluators. The Reds just whiffed…. again.
You got that right.
Shocked the Reds passed on Kevin Kelly. 25 years old. 5-2 record, 57.1 innings, 42 hits allowed, 22 walks, 75 strikeouts, .194 batting average against. Dominated both AA and AAA. It seems it would have been an easy player to keep Kelly on the 25 man roster as a reliever that projects to perform well in the majors. Not sure why the Reds chose a player to be named later instead. Tampa Bay Rays doing laps around the other small market teams.
I also felt like Kelly has a guy to consider. Good numbers, right age and had upper minors experience.
Reading the Xander news then coming here is like walking out of a world championship fight and into Kip’s karate class.
Can’t say I understand these moves, two guys old for their level with decent success but underwhelming stuff.
The Gokoski & Crawford picks are just about filling out minor league rosters. As last year showed, you can never have too much minor league starting pitching depth – especially at double and triple A. We had several bullpen pitching games last year due to lack of starting pitching depth.
You need guys to pitch in the minor leagues. You want those guys to have success. These guys can probably do those things for a while longer and help teams win.
Where is the Hawkeye data available? I’d be interested in seeing this. Thanks
It’s not accessible in the same way that the MLB data is, but it’s out there to download and you can parse through it for the Florida State League (except for Daytona home games) and the Pacific Coast League.
Reds can’t compete in next 2 years based on what teams like Mets doing. No reason to waste money on 1 year rentals who would block prospects from playing. And we all know Bell would start that veteran 4-5 days a week. I think this is a season where we may trade a prospect or two to better align our system.
Remember the years after the Red Sox won the championship with a bunch of 1-2 year deals? Every team stopped doing these huge contracts and players complained of collusion. Now they’re going 2x as crazy with spending. We will see how the second half of the off season goes and who is left waiting for a bag of cash.
Waste is a strong word. First, you are only blocking prospects if they are better than the guys in front of them, and if they aren’t, then they shouldn’t be playing. Second, the goal is to win. The goal isn’t to just let the ownership group put more money in their pockets. I mean, maybe it is the goal of ownership to do that, but as a fan you should never want that.
The Dodgers were “the Mets” for the last like decade. They won a billion and a half games in that time. They won one World Series. The idea that “the Mets are doing a lot of spending” means you shouldn’t even try to win is crazy to me. You never know what’s going to happen. Make the odds more favorable and sign some good players and hope you can 1999 Reds a thing or two with the guys you didn’t expect to have career years along with the good players you did actually have also having good years.