Angels Select One, Trade For Another in Rule 5 Draft

The Rule 5 Draft came and went today. You probably missed it. Don’t worry. Just about everyone did. But unlike a tree that falls silently in the woods, things did happen as the Angels Selected Jose Valdivia in the AAA phase of the draft and traded international draft spending space (Stay with me) to the Blue Jays for their selection, Brian Moran.

Valdivia was drafted out of the Mariners system, and posted an ERA of 2.23, a 27.9 K-rate and a 0.93 WHIP. He also did this while spending his second consecutive season in low-A Ball. He would be an interesting selection going forward as a member of the Angels bullpen. But he is so far away from being big league ready that I don’t see him having even snow ball’s chance in hell of sticking on the 40-man roster.

Moran, on the other hand, has a very real shot at contributing this season.

In AAA last year, Moran posted an ERA of 3.45 (In the hittingest friendly league that hitters have ever hit in), a 30.1% K-rate and a walk-rate of 7.3%. Those are solid numbers that were not fluky either. In 2012, his K-rate was 37.1% and his walk-rate was 8.4%. I am willing to bet that he had been on the Angels radar for some time now, and it is probably why Jerry Dipoto felt comfortable trading $244,000 worth of international draft space to the Toronto Blue Jays for him.

The Rule 5 Draft has uncovered some gems in the past. Johan Santana was a Rule 5 pick. Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino were both Rule 5 picks. Reigning World Series MVP David Ortiz was a Rule 5 pick. Maybe the Angels uncovered something special in Brian Moran. If they didn’t, well, then there was a reason that he was left exposed to the draft.