#rule-5-draft

#rule-5-draft

A former Blue Jays top prospect is staying put in Minnesota, or at least, in the farm system. Kendry Rojas, who was traded alongside outfielder Alan Roden in exchange for reliever Louie Varland and infielder Ty France at the trade deadline last summer, was protected alongside five other prospects earlier today. With today being the deadline for 40-man roster additions to protect internal players from the Rule 5 Draft, there was a flurry of transactions across the league.

Rojas, who came to the Twins alongside outfielder in the trade sending reliever Louis Varland to Toronto, is a 22-year-old southpaw (23 next week) who climbed three minor league levels in 2025, topping out with his first taste of Triple-A work. The Cuban-born lefty breezed through High-A and Double-A before running into some trouble in his first 32 1/3 innings at the top minor league level. He yielded 26 runs in that time (7.34 ERA) and walked 14.7% of his opponents.

The Guardians announced Tuesday that they've designated righty Nic Enright for assignment.

Deadline for qualifying offer decisions: Today's the deadline for players who were extended the qualifying offer to make their decisions on whether to accept the QO or head into free agency encumbered by draft pick compensation. The majority of the 13 players who received a QO will reject it without much thought, but there are a handful of edge cases who could at least consider accepting the one-year, $22.05MM deal rather than testing the open market.

The lefty Ortiz is headed for his age-26 season, coming off a 2025 in which he posted a 2.73 ERA/3.90 FIP over 59.1 innings with a 28.3 K% and a 13.0 BB%, making it as far as AAA last year. Ortiz has struggled with injuries, pitching only 22.2 innings from 2020-2024, but his health finally cooperated and he seems like a solid lefty relief addition for a team lacking a ton of lefty relief options - compared to the Dodgers, who seem to have nothing but lefties now.

That's the day all 30 MLB teams have to submit their 40-man rosters and there are some interesting names currently on the table that the Blue Jays have to make a big decision on. The players that aren't on the 40-man will be left exposed to the Rule 5 Draft in December and Toronto General Manager Ross Atkins will have to weigh which ones he is comfortable losing and which ones he feels he can't let slip away.

The Dodgers have 40 players under team control for the 2026 season and seven who are currently free agents. The Dodgers recently added prospects Robinson Ortiz and Ryan Ward to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from the upcoming MLB Rule 5 Draft. To make room for those additions, the Dodgers outrighted Justin Dean and Michael Grove to Triple-A Oklahoma City while designating Tony Gonsolin for assignment.

The 27-year-old backstop was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2017. He hit the ground running as a professional, putting up above-average offensive performances in each of his three minor league seasons in the Pirates' system. Sabol reached Triple-A in 2022, slashing .296/.426/.543 over a brief 25-game sample. Sabol was selected by Cincinnati in the Rule 5 draft following the 2022 season.

Ward was the Pacific Coast League (PCL) Most Valuable Player after slashing .290/.380/.557 with 36 homers and 122 RBI for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets. Ward is the second OKC player to win PCL MVP, joining former Dodgers prospect Michael Busch (2023). Ward led Minor League Baseball in home runs, RBI, 73 extra-base hits and 315 total bases, and among PCL leaders, he ranked second with 113 runs scored, third in both slugging percentage (.557) and OPS (.937) and fourth with 164 hits.

Starting with Bichette, the infielder was always going to receive a qualifying offer, given what he's done throughout his career. Last season, the 27-year-old slashed .311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs in 628 plate appearances for a 134 wRC+. He'll surely decline his qualifying offer to become a free agent. If he signs elsewhere, the Blue Jays will receive a draft pick after the fourth round.

The first major event is from November 10 to 13, as the annual general manager meetings take place. This isn't to be confused with the Winter Meetings, which happen in December. On November 11, the Manager of the Year will be announced; hopefully, it'll be Toronto Blue Jays' manager John Schneider. On November 18, players have to decide whether or not to accept the qualifying offer. The only Blue Jay likely to get a qualifying offer is Bo Bichette, and he'll surely decline it.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss... Plus, we answer your questions, including... If the Blue Jays were to extend Addison Barger, would the Lawrence Butler deal be a good comp? (40:35) If a veteran signs a minor league deal, are they eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 draft? (44:50) Will the Red Sox trade Jarren Duran? (46:25)

With this week being the last we'll see of several of this year's minor league mainstays, it's understandable to hear me say "five scoreless, great final showing" a few times and think it redundant. But this is a team - nay, a farm - stocked with rotation arms who have all raised their stock over the course of the season.

Sauer, 26, was a second-round pick by the Yankees back in 2017 but didn't make his major league debut until last year as a member of the Royals after being plucked from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft. He made 14 appearances for Kansas City last year but struggled to a 7.71 ERA in that time. He walked (11) more opponents than he struck out (9) and surrendered three homers in just 16 1/3 innings of work.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote earlier in the week that it's "more likely" the 20-year-old will finish out the season in Triple-A and hope for his first call to the majors in 2026. President of baseball operations Buster Posey removed further doubt the following day when telling John Shea of the San Francisco Standard that his team would "most likely not" promote Eldridge for his big league debut before season's end.