this is the kind of beard we don't need

I’ve yet to personally see the guy pitch, but fans seem to think Rule V pick David Herndon has decent stuff and could hold a spot on the roster.  It’s not likely he stays, but this article will attempt to lay down the path to keeping him.  First, a brief explanation of the Rule V mechanism.

Every year there is a Rule V draft which is designed to redistribute talent from teams with too much to teams with too little.  Any player on the 40 man roster is protected from the draft. Additionally any player who was signed as a 19 year old or older and has less than 4 seasons of minor league service (or as an 18 or younger with 5 years service) is protected. Clubs may select any number of players in the draft, paying the original club $50,000 for the right to bring that player to spring training.  To permanently keep a player, the drafting club must keep that player on the active roster or the DL for the entire season.  If they want to option him to the minors, they must first offer the player back to his original team for $25,000.  The original team may opt to decline, which is how the Phils got Shane Victorino.

So if the Phillies want David Herndon, they have to figure out a way to keep him on the active roster.  As of today, it appears Herndon, Antonio Bastardo, and Kyle Kendrick will be marching north with the club.  Romero and Lidge are set to return to the club soon thereafter which effectively boots two of those bodies to AAA.  Since Kendrick and Bastardo both have options, it’s a safe, temporary option to send both of them down and keep Herndon in the pen.  However, with Romero’s suspect durability and penchant for wildness, at some point Bastardo is going to surpass him on the depth chart.  It should happen around the middle of this year.  This means that to keep Herndon, the Phillies need to juggle various injured players and minor leaguers in such a way that they can keep Herndon on the active roster.

There are two alternatives.  Since he has pitched well, another club may be interested in trading for him.  We wouldn’t get much in return, but it would doubtlessly be more valuable than $25,000.

The other option is to trade one of our existing pieces.  Chad Durbin and Danys Baez jump to mind as guys I wouldn’t mind sending elsewhere.  Because of our great depth at RP, we don’t even need to be that certain of Herndon’s merits to pursue a trade.  Again, we can’t hope to get much if anything in return for Durbin or Baez, but 2 mil of payroll relief isn’t the worst thing in the world.  Really this comes down to whether or not Herndon is worth the effort.

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