Q and A - Rule V Draft

Mark Mokris asked:

Pertaining to 40 man roster and rule 5 draft. After teams set their 40 man roster and before the rule 5 draft, what if minor leaguers are included in a trade or a free agent signs is there an exception to allow them to be included on the 40 man roster and therefore protected from the rule 5 draft? As an example, say the Marlins Blue Jays trade was not made official until day after 40 man rosters were to be set would those players be protected from draft? Does it depend on if they were on first teams 40 man roster?  Just wondering.

 Also aren't players like Armando Rodriguez and potentially Juan Centeno more likely to be drafted in Rule 5 draft than Gonzalez German and Greg Burke?  I understand Zack Wheeler, Darin Gorski, and Wilfredo Tovar but I don't get Burke and German.  Am I missing some kind of draft strategy here?  If I was just randomly protecting players I would have protected Jefry Marte and Aderlin Rodriguez.  If you're going to protect Robles why not protect rest of younger Latin pitchers that are eligible for draft?  I just don't get the thinking here.

Mack:  To the best of my knowledge (and if I’m wrong, someone please chime in via a comment), there are no exceptions for the deadline day to place players on the 40-man prior to the Rule V draft. You can still trade that player and I’m sure the new team can make their own decision what to do with them. This also doesn’t mean you can’t add more players to your 40-man prior to the Rule V draft (the Mets 40-man is short right now); however, the date for the protection has past and, let’s say the Mets add pitcher Armando Rodriguez today. Well, tough titty… he’s still eligible for the Rule V.

I’ve expressed similar comments about the player selection the Mets chose to protect. Regarding Latin players, the Robles choice was based on the fact that he was 22-years old and eligible at a level he should have been far past (what the hell has he been doing since he was 16-years old?).

I worry about losing Rodriguez, both Armando and Aderlin. I also hope that Josh Satin gets picked by a decent team so he gets a chance to play in the majors.