The rule 5 draft is always a time to watch the Phillies. Shane Victorino and Odubel Herrera both came from there, and they worked out really well. But with this year’s class relatively weak, the Phillies decided to spin their pick into something else.
With their rule 5 pick, the Phillies grabbed Nick Burdi, a right-handed pitcher from the Minnesota Twins. And then they almost immediately traded Burdi to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the princely sum of $500,000 in international bonus pool money. Ahh, international bonus pool money.