There’s not much left on the official agenda here in Indianapolis, but none of the fun stuff happens on the official agenda anyway. For what it’s worth:
The Rule 5 draft takes place at 9 A.M. this morning. Even the prospect junkies I’ve talked to here aren’t terribly excited about it. There’s no Josh Hamilton, Johan Santana, Dan Uggla or Joakim Soria in this crowd. Last year 21 players were selected. Only six saw major league playing time. Only three stuck all season with the teams that chose them. The draft is not going to make a tremendous difference for any team this year.
Among the potential pickees this year: Marlins outfielder John Raynor is mildly interesting. Marlins pitcher Arquimedes Caminero is too. D-backs pitcher Hector Ambriz is someone else who has been mentioned. You may have heard of Royals submarine pitcher Chris “Disco” Hayes, but really, his nickname is his biggest claim to fame. While submariners are evidence of all that is right and good in the universe, he’s basically a one-pitch pitcher.
Officially, that’s it. Unofficially, teams and agents will continue to talk about the Roy Halladays and Jason Bays of the world. But maybe not too intensely. Many of the movers and shakers have early flights today (assuming the high winds and frigid temperatures here in Indy don’t cancel them all). As a result, the biggest deals are likely to wait for a later day.
But CTB is still on the job. I’ll be blogging from the Marriott until they kick me out. Aaron and Matthew will be monitoring the interwebs as well. If it happens, we’ll tell you about it. If we miss it, we’ll make it up. If it’s wrong, we’ll blame Jon Heyman.