Back in February, I identified the 59 players then under contract with the St. Louis Cardinals that would be eligible for the 2009 Rule 5 Draft, to be held December 10 at Baseball’s Winter Meetings. The purpose of this article is to fill in the gaps from then until now.
In the intervening nine months, an entire season of transactions occurred, to the point that original list of 59 was whittled down to just 20. As part of the normal business of baseball, most of the other 39 were released or added to the 40-man roster. Several others were traded, retired, placed on the restricted list or became free agents.
One joined the list when he was removed from the 40-man and another newly-signed player is eligible, making the current total 22.
| Feb. total | Off 40-man | New sign | Subtotal | Remain | Released | Add 40-man | Free agent | Traded | Restricted | Retired |
| 59 | 1 | 1 | 61 | 22 | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Shearer | P Rodriguez | Buckman | Anderson | Castellanos | Gregerson | Landin | Gorsett | |||
| C Gonzalez | Craig | Ostlund | Sillman | |||||||
| Degerman | Freese | Thurston | ||||||||
| Haltiwanger | Hamilton | Yarbrough | ||||||||
| E Hernandez | Jay | |||||||||
| Herron | Jones | |||||||||
| I Garcia | Norrick | |||||||||
| Ja Martinez | Ottavino | |||||||||
| Javier | Pagnozzi | |||||||||
| Knoedler | Rasmus | |||||||||
| Leach | Robinson | |||||||||
| Mateo | Samuel | |||||||||
| Maiques | Walters | |||||||||
| Mikrut | ||||||||||
| Noguera | ||||||||||
| Peralta | ||||||||||
| Rogers | ||||||||||
| Rowlett |
These are the remaining 22 players eligible for Rule 5 selection and have been confirmed. They are listed by year originally signed.
| Player | Position | DOB | Draft yr/rd | Signed |
| Pedro Rodriguez | RHP | 10/31/1987 | 2004 | |
| Andres Rosales | RHS | 06/13/1988 | 2004 | |
| Jose Martinez | 2B | 01/24/1986 | 2004 | |
| Mike Parisi | RHS | 04/18/1983 | 2004 9 | 2004 |
| Matt Scherer | RHR | 01/20/1983 | 2004 16 | 2004 |
| Domnit Bolivar | SS | 05/12/1989 | 2005 | |
| Jose Rada | RHS | 04/13/1988 | 2005 | |
| Edwin Gomez | OF | 03/10/1988 | 2005 | |
| Donovan Solano | SS | 12/17/1987 | 2005 | |
| Ivan Castro | C | 11/17/1987 | 2005 | |
| Shaun Garceau | RHS | 08/28/1987 | 2005 20 | 2005 |
| Mark McCormick | RHS | 10/15/1983 | 2005 1a | 2005 |
| Trey Hearne | RHS | 08/19/1983 | 2005 28 | 2005 |
| Gary Daley Jr. | RHR | 11/01/1985 | 2006 3 | 2006 |
| David Carpenter | RHR | 07/15/1985 | 2006 12 | 2006 |
| Jim Rapoport | OF | 06/25/1985 | 2006 35 | 2006 |
| Kyle Mura | RHS | 11/24/1984 | 2006 42 | 2006 |
| Brandon Dickson | RHS | 11/03/1984 | 2006 | |
| Mark Shorey | OF | 08/13/1984 | 2006 31 | 2006 |
| Marco Gonzalez | RHR | 05/28/1984 | 2006 | |
| Amaury Cazana | OF | 09/02/1978 | 2006 18 | 2006 |
| Brad Furnish | LHS | 01/19/1985 | 2006 2 | 2006 |
At this point, most articles on this subject would conclude. Yet there is another factor which dramatically affects which of these players might be most advantageously selected by another organization.
Only the players put on the Triple-A Memphis reserve list for protection would be eligible for the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. Those players would have to remain on the new club’s 25-man active major league roster the entire 2010 season or be offered back to the Cardinals after clearing waivers.
There is not room for every player on the Memphis roster, so the Cardinals probably had to make some tradeoffs as to which players they wanted to make most painful for another club to take.
Some of these 22 eligible players have likely been stationed on the Double-A Springfield roster or lower. These players cost less to select and most importantly, do not have to be added to the major league roster if taken in the Rule 5. Effectively, they do not have to the returned even if they are later demoted.
A recent example is outfielder Cody Haerther. One year ago, the Cardinals placed him on the Springfield reserve roster. He was then taken by Toronto in the Triple-A phase of the 2008 Rule 5 Draft and as a result, was essentially gone forever from the Cardinals organization.
Once I receive confirmation on which reserve rosters these eligible players reside, I will share that information with TheCardinalNation.com / Scout.com subscribers. Update: “Available Cardinals Rule 5 Players by Level” now posted.
Post-publishing updates: Kenny Maiques and Jon Mikrut had been previously released by the Cardinals and have been moved accordingly. Newly-signed pitcher Pedro Rodriguez has been added to the eligibles.
Not reflected above: The November 30 signing of infielder Ruben Gotay to a minor league contract adds another to the Memphis roster, increasing the total number of Rule 5 eligibles to 23.