Why You Shouldn't Expect Much Excitement from the Rule 5 Draft This Year

A changing industry is taking some of the intrigue away

Photo Credit: Thearon W. Henderson | GettyImages

With the winter meetings coming up next week, this is normally the time of year when I would post a big “Rule 5 preview” with an overview of some players who might be interesting for the Giants this year. But as I started to eye up such a post on my “upcoming publication” spreadsheet, I felt a distinct ball of dread growing in the pit of my stomach. I recognize this feeling: it’s my “I really don’t want to do this” sensation. And, as writing is all about listening to your inner voice, at some point I got to thinking maybe writing about that pit in my stomach might make for a more interesting post than doing the “who’s available in the draft?” pro forma post that you might have been expecting.

So, here we are. Instead of writing up players that the Giants might take (nobody… probably) or lose (nobody… probably), what I really want to write about today is why you shouldn’t expect the Giants to be much involved in this year’s draft — and why events and industry trends of recent years may be pushing the Rule 5 draft even further into the irrelevancy corner in this and future years.

When thinking of potential targets that the Giants might be interested in this year — or players on the Giants whom other teams might be interested in — the little voice inside my head kept saying “probably nobody.” That may or may not turn out to be true, but in either case, exploring why that little voice in my head was screaming seems more interesting than casting about for some potential candidates I don’t really believe in. So, let’s explore this year’s Rule 5 draft, and why it might just be a historical dud — and why future years might not be all that much more exciting…

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