Since John Hart and John Coppolella took over front office duties for the Atlanta Braves we’ve seen some unexpected names exposed to and lost to the Rule 5 draft. In 2014 The Twins took J.R. Graham and last year The Braves outrighted Todd Cunningham to make room on the roster and lost him to the Angels on a waiver claim. To understand the changes we need to review the rules.
The Reserve List – 40 Man Roster
As noted above during the season the reserve list may have more than 40 players on it because teams may replace players on the 60 day DL during the season, Rule 2 (a) of The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book says that the exception for disabled list players vanishes after the season ends.