The Oakland Athletics will have a lot of decisions to make this offseason as they rebuild their roster for the 2016 season. One decision that they will have to make sooner rather than later is which minor league players they want to protect from the Rule 5 Draft since the deadline is November 20. In order to be eligible for the draft, which takes place in December at the Winter Meetings, a player must not be on the Major League organization’s 40-man roster as well as fall under one of these two descriptions:
- was 18 years old or younger on the June 5 prior to their signing and this is the fifth Rule 5 draft since then
- was 19 years old or older on the June 5 prior to their signing and this is fourth Rule 5 draft since then
In order to protect Rule 5 draft eligible players, they need to be added to the organization’s 40-man roster before the deadline. Currently, the A’s have three players that are eligible for this offseason draft – Joey Wendle, Aaron Kurcz and Tucker Healy. It is pretty much a given that the Athletics are going to protect Wendle. He is a top rated second base prospect that came over in the Brandon Moss trade in 2014 and is expected to break into the Majors next season. Wendle had a great season with Oakland’s Triple-A team, the Nashville Sounds, batting .289/.323/.442. It is expected that he will be in an Athletics uniform in Arizona in March 2016.
Now, let’s take a look at the other two prospects. Kurcz is a relief pitcher and was acquired by the Athletics in July 2015 from the Atlanta Braves. He barely made the A’s top 30 prospects, but was able to squeak in at No. 29. He played in Triple-A this season and ended the year with a 3.66 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 59 innings pitched. Kurcz needs to work on his command, but does show potential and could earn a spot in an MLB bullpen someday.
Ultimately, it would be sort of silly to acquire him midway through the 2015 season only to not protect him from the Rule 5 draft. The Athletics obviously see some potential there. Additionally, he is part of the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League, and if he performs well with them, the chance of Oakland protecting him from the Rule 5 draft definitely goes up. He will be one to watch as November 20 approaches.
Healy, who was drafted in 2012 out of Ithaca College in upstate New York, has slowly dropped in the ranks among the A’s top prospects. Because of all of the talent that Oakland has acquired over the past year, this reliever went from No. 18 in mid-July 2014 to somewhere behind the Athletics’ No. 30 prospect. However, Healy has moved up the farm system ladder quickly and even got a taste of Triple-A in 2014.
This season with the Athletics’ Double-A affiliate, Healy had a great season. He held a 1.95 ERA over 55.1 innings pitched. He also had a 1.05 WHIP and struck out 53. Even though Healy has made a lot of progress since being drafted from a Division III school, Oakland may not protect Healy from the Rule 5 draft because they have two prospect who demonstrate more potential right now.
With the A’s 40-man roster already pretty full, a lot of moves will have to be made this offseason, especially since the Athletics are only losing one player to free agency – Edward Mujica. When the General Manager meetings commence on November 9, expect a lot of various adjustments to the roster to take place. The offseason has definitely started for the A’s and the rebuild will commence soon.