The Remains of Anthony Reyes Update

Why can't I quit you, Anthony? 

Unfortunately for me, it doesn't look as if there's going to be a running segment on Anthony's remains the way there was on Anthony himself. Yesterday, in the Rule 5 draft at the Winter Meetings, the San Francisco Giants snatched Luis Perdomo from the Cardinals. You may remember Perdomo as the player the Cards received from the Cleveland Indians in return for the Flat-Billed Wonder from Cali. 

If you're not familiar with the Rule 5 draft, here's an explanation. Basically, it's a draft in which teams can take a player from another team's farm system, so long as the player meets certain requirements. It costs $50,000 to take a player, and said player must remain on the 25-man roster all year or be offered back to his original team. The Rule 5 is what netted the Cardinals Brian Barton last year. 

 

Now, am I going to sit here and tell you that losing Luis Perdomo is a catastrophe? No. I'm not. Am I going to tell you that Luis Perdomo has a chance to be some kind of special? Nope. Not going to do that, either. Why? Well, because neither of those things is likely true. Luis Perdomo is a mediocre middle reliever in the minor leagues. There's really nothing about him that just absolutely can't be replaced. 

I will tell you this, though: in the end, the Cardinals basically managed to turn their one-time top pitching prospect into $50K. Congratulations to the Cardinal coaching staff once again for such deft handling of the talent. 

The other thing that really bugs me about all this is why Perdomo wasn't protected on the 40-man roster. If the Cards had just stuck him on the roster, he wouldn't have been eligible, and the Cardinals have extra roster spots open at the moment. Strangely enough, while they didn't see fit to protect Perdomo, his mid 90s fastball, or his big league quality slider, the Cardinals did see fit to protect Matt Scherer, another right-handed reliever in the system. Why is that strange? Because Matt Scherer is a much less talented pitcher than Perdomo. Scherer's fastball lacks the zip, topping out at about 91, his breaking ball isn't anything to write home about and his numbers simply aren't all that good. 

Both pitchers are a little on the old side to be legitimate prospects; Perdomo was 24 in Double A last year, and Scherer was 25 in Triple A, so it isn't as if either one is a rapid riser reaching high levels at a young age. The only thing I can spot in Scherer's resume that the Cardinals could possibly really value is the fact that he gets a few more groundballs than Perdomo. 

So, is this the end of the Anthony Reyes saga, you ask? Well, I suppose it could be, but I doubt it. People like me probably won't let it be, though if the team is really good next year we might all forget. Still, when you can reduce a top prospect to a five figure monetary sum in less than three years, one has to simply marvel at the power of poor management. 

And then, to top it off, a potentially useful reliever was allowed to just be plucked away, while roster spots sat available, and a much less talented pitcher was retained. I thought the bullpen was the end all, be all this offseason? 

I'm trying not to continually question the team's ability to rate and evaluate talent, but it's getting harder and harder all the time, I must admit. 

I think DanUp may have said it best over at Viva El Birdos this morning when talking about the Rule 5 yesterday: 

Amen, Dan. 

- Aaron Schafer