In the biggest transaction news of the day around Major League Baseball, the Minnesota Twins selected Terry Doyle from the White Sox in Thursday's Rule 5 Draft.
Doyle, 26, compiled a 3.07 ERA over 173 innings between Single-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham last season with 122 strikeouts, 33 walks and 11 home runs allowed. He put up some fine numbers in the Arizona Fall League as well, but there shouldn't be an consternation about losing Doyle, even to a division rival.
First of all, if the Sox indeed lose Doyle, it'll mean Minnesota kept him on their 25-man roster throughout the 2012 season. In other words, they'd keep a guy who has only thrown 100 innings above Single-A on their MLB roster. Or, in other words, the Twins would be incredibly thin on pitching next season.
Secondly, Doyle is hardly a major loss, despite those nice minor league numbers. Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein had this to say about Doyle when asked back in October:
"Big, big dude. Classic frame, but not much stuff. Upper 80s fastball that scrapes 90-92 at times, better pitch is a mid-80s cutter with some bite. Average curveball and change. He succeeds by hitting his spots and working low in the zone, but there are plenty of questions, and understandably so, about his ability to miss the bats of more advanced hitters. Perfect world is probably middle relief."
And, as Larry points out, Rule 5 picks are rarely worth anything to their team.
The most interesting news is that Jordan Danks was not selected Thursday, as he appeared to be the unprotected Sox player with the best shot of sticking with a potential selecting team. He'll stay with the Sox, barring a trade.