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On April 13^th 2011, Carlos Delgado officially retired from Major League Baseball. The 38 year-old Puerto Rico native had spent 17 seasons in the big leagues, accumulating very impressive rate and counting statistics. Delgado spent 11 years with the Blue Jays, and set a number of club records. These include: home runs (336), RBI (1058), walks (827), slugging percentage (556%), OPS (949%) runs (889), total bases (2786), doubles (343), extra base hits (690), and home runs per at bat (14.9). Delgado also finished 2^nd in MVP voting in 2003. These stats alone make it pretty obvious that Delgado was one of the best Jays position players of all time, my question is: Should Carlos Delgado be honoured on the Jays level of excellence?

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For anyone that is unsure about the details of the Rule 5 Draft, it is a draft of players who have been left off of their club’s 40-man roster, and the team with the worst regular season record picks first, concluding with the team that had the best regular season record. Each player is only eligible once a certain exemption period has elapsed. Only teams who have available spots on their 40-man roster can take part in the Rule 5 Draft, because any player selected is moved to that team’s 40-man roster immediately. Each player costs $50,000 and must remain on their new club’s Major League roster for the entire season, otherwise they will be sent back to their original club at half price. For a full in depth explanation on the Rule 5 Draft, you can always head here.

There have been notable players taken in the Rule 5 Draft that have had success at the Major League level including Joakim Soria, Dan Uggla, Johan Santana, Josh Hamilton, and Jose Bautista. The Toronto Blue Jays have a rich history with the Rule 5 Draft as well. Notable players that have been claimed by the Jays in the Rule 5 Draft include Willie Upshaw (1977), 1987 AL MVP George Bell (1980), World Series Champions Kelly Gruber (1983) and Manny Lee (1984), and Dewayne Wise (1999). (more…)