Dodgers News: LA Loses 3 Players in Rule 5 Draft
The big event of the final day of the Winter Meetings is always the Rule 5 draft, where teams get together to poach minor-league talent from each other. Wednesday was no different, as the Dodgers lost three young players to other teams.
Dodgers lost three players in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft:
Ryan Noda (to OAK)
Jose Hernandez (to PIT)
Gus Varland (to MIL)All three have to be on their new club’s big league roster for the entire 2023 season or they can be offered back to the Dodgers.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) December 7, 2022
As Ardaya mentions in the tweet, any player taken in the Rule 5 draft must remain on the active roster (or the major-league injured list) for all of the 2023 season or be offered back to Los Angreles for a nominal fee. The purpose of the Rule 5 draft is to prevent teams from stashing big-league quality players in the minors indefinitely.
Ryan Noda came over to L.A. in the Ross Stripling trade, and it’s not surprising at all that he was drafted. He had an .870 OPS with 25 homers in Triple-A last year and has shown consistent power throughout the minors. He’ll turn 27 in March, so he’s probably as big-league ready as he’s going to get. He makes a lot of sense for a cheap team like Oakland.
Jose Hernandez will turn 25 later this month, and he pitched pretty well in High-A and Double-A in 2022. He has a big arm and gets a lot of strikeouts, and unsurprisingly that comes with a lot of walks. The lefty from the Dominican Republic has been in the Dodgers organization since he was 18 in 2016.
Gus Varland came over from Oakland in the Adam Kolarek trade. The 26-year-old struggled mightily after coming over, but he pitched better after they moved him to the bullpen. His younger brother Louie debuted with the Twins in 2022.
Outfielder Jose Ramos might have been the most surprising non-draftee, but the Dodgers are surely happy to still have him in the organization.
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