In theory, I love the Rule 5 Draft. Or, more accurately, I love the idea of what the Rule 5 Draft was created for. Basically, back in the day, MLB had a problem with some teams signing and stashing guys that could probably be productive major leaguers in their farm system. This was all before the Rule 4 (amateur) draft and stuff like “international amateur free agency” with bonus pools and the like, and basically the idea was that MLB wanted MLB-caliber players in MLB, not waiting in the wings. (The idea of service time manipulation is amusing in retrospect in this context.) Even though the rules of the Rule 5 Draft have evolved over time, the idea — giving a player you think is overlooked a chance to compete at the highest level — is appealing to me.

With that said, the implementation is

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