There used to be a running joke among Orioles fans that the Rule 5 draft was Dan Duquette’s Christmas.
Nobody enjoyed the annual exercise in plucking a fringe prospect from another team’s minor league system more than the former Orioles general manager. During his seven years at the helm, Duquette selected at least one player in every single Rule 5 draft; the Orioles acquired a whopping 11 players in the Rule 5, either by picking them directly or trading for another team’s acquisition immediately after the draft. And the O’s weren’t just doing it for kicks and giggles — they legitimately wanted most of those players to stick around.