Rule 5 Draft: 2008

The results are here on MLB.com.   The Giants drafted:

• RHP Luis Perdomo in the major league portion of the draft (from the Cardinal's)
  
• LHP Matt Yourkin in the AAA portion of the draft (from the Marlins)

and lost three players:  

• CF Ben Copeland to the A's in the major league portion of the draft
• C Elio Sarmiento to the Rangers in the AAA portion of the draft
• 2B Kyle Haines to the Phillies in the AAA portion of the draft

At the MiLB's rumor blog, Jon Mayo wrote this about Perdomo:

There were rumors the Nationals were going to trade the No. 1 pick -- with some clubs interested in moving up to take Cardinals reliever Luis Perdomo -- but they plan to use it to make their own selection.

So apparently he was much in demand.

Luis Perdomo

Formerly with the Indians (Bobo's kindly provided this link), the 25 year old (for 2009 season) was acquired by St. Louis just before the end of 2008.  He had a very nice season statistically, 72.1 IP, 49 hits, 2.36 ERA overall, 82 K, 30 BB, so good K/BB ratio of 2.7, though high BB%, which is acceptable when he strike out a lot.  Only bad thing to note was his ERA rose with each rise or change in farm system teams:  0.92 ERA in 39 IP in A+, 3.52 ERA in 15.1 IP in AA, with Indians, 4.50 ERA in 18 IP in AA while with Cardinals.  Still, very nice stats (though small samples) in AA with Cardinals:  18 IP, 18 hits, 6 walks, 22 strikeouts, plus suffered from a bad BABIP of .357.  He didn't deserve that 4.50 ERA.

He will have to stay on the 25-man (i.e. major league) roster all season or would have to offered back to the Cardinals for half the money the Giants paid.  He is probably competing with Yabu, Taschner, Hinshaw, Sadler, Pichardo, Misch, and Matos (plus Valdez if healthy and perhaps Pucetas, if he pitches well) for the remaining bullpen spots.  With a 7 man bullpen and Wilson, Howry, Affeldt, and Romo all holding spots, that leaves three open spots.  

None of my prospect books have anything on him for the past three years.   His stats were very nice peripheral-wise, but his ERA was nothing great plus he was beating up on younger players.  Even in 2008 he was old for the leagues he were in.  Still, with such a good strikeout rate, even some deflation would yield a very good pitcher.   And with a mid-90's fastball, he certainly has the talent to be a very good reliever.

But just remember, the Giants drafted a reliever last year (Jose Capellan/Red Sox) and he didn't make it, getting resent back to the Red Sox at the end of spring training.

Matt Yourkin

He will be 27 for the 2009 season, and has never made it beyond AAA.  In fact, the career reliever got sent back to A+ and AA in 2008, after making it to AAA the previous two years before.   He strikes out a lot of guys, but limits his walks, which is good.  Unlike Perdomo, Yourkin at least got his name listed on BA's depth chart, though not their Top 30 list for 2008.

Giants Thoughts

Both are nice pickups, strikeout artists, that will give our bullpen some extra competition.  I'm sorry Copeland never got a chance with us, but he has no power and strike out a little too much, though he does walk a heck of a lot.   This follows the A's picking off Rajai Davis from us last season, a similar AAAA player with more speed than Copeland.  Don't know much about the other two guys.