Cleveland Indians Lose Josh Martin in Rule 5 Draft

Cleveland Indians Lose Martin in Rule 5 Draft

The Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft took place today and in the major league portion the Cleveland Indians lost minor league reliever Josh Martin to the San Diego Padres.

Martin is a reliever who pitched for the Tribe’s Double-A Akron affiliate last year.  He was an Eastern League All-Star in 2015.   He went 8-1 with a 2.27 ERA, a pair of saves and 88 strikeouts to just 19 walks. He made 44 appearances while throwing 51.1 innings.  If the name sounds familiar it may be because I listed him as a guy I thought had a very good chance of being rostered by the Cleveland Indians a month ago.  He was a surprise omission in my eyes due to his ability to pitch multiple innings. 

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The Cleveland Indians will get $50,000 from San Diego, and Martin must remain on the Padres major league 25-man roster for the entire season or be offered back to the Indians for $25,000.  There’s a chance that Martin could return to Cleveland as Martin doesn’t have the greatest of stuff, but I would not be surprised at all if he managed to stick in the Padres’ bullpen.  As mentioned, he’s able to go multiple innings and could make for an okay long-reliever/mop-up guy for the Padres.  Doesn’t hurt that he’s going to one of the best parks to pitch at in PETCO… The Cleveland Indians did not make any selections of their own in the Major League portion of the draft as they were not eligible to draft due to their 40-man roster being completely full (not the only team without a pick).  A couple players that did not get selected that appeared in jeopardy were

and

.  Johnson was another guy that I was surprised was not rostered back in November but it appears the Indians made the right call on him. Lugo is a high upside lefty that is still pretty far from the big leagues but has the kind of upside teams sometimes gamble on in the Rule 5 draft.

Next: Trade Rumors Continue for Tribe

The Cleveland Indians did acquire a player in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 Draft, taking

from the Seattle Mariners.

Moran had Tommy John surgery in 2014 and missed the entire season. He did come back and threw 33.1 innings out of the bullpen in the Mariners system between Single-A and Double-A.  Since Moran was taken in the Triple-A portion and not the Major League portion he does not have to be added to the Tribe’s 40-man roster. He’ll likely report to Double-A Akron and pitch out of the Rubberducks’ bullpen.