Pickpocketed by Jared Carrabis
Rays' minor league signing of Type B free agent Felipe Lopez strips Red Sox of a draft pick


Thanks to a minor league agreement with Tampa Bay, the Rays have foiled Theo Epstein's plan to stack the backend of the 2011 draft.

To the casual fan, you could throw the name "Felipe Lopez" out there and get "Who? He played for us?" as a response. To the diehards in Red Sox Nation, fans knew that Felipe Lopez was a walking, talking, breathing, draft pick to be collected later.

For those who don't understand, allow me to explain. In late September, the St. Louis Cardinals released the infielder, because apparently he was unbearable to keep in the Cardinals' clubhouse. Prior to his release, Lopez rejected to go to the San Diego Padres, who at the time were destined for the postseason, because his addition to the roster after September would have kept him on the postseason roster, and he wouldn’t have felt like a part of the team.

Respectable, but a pain in the ass nonetheless. Had Lopez not rejected the waiver claim by San Diego, the Cardinals would have at least had the opportunity to work out a trade, but judging by their decision to give him his outright release, they would have just handed his contract to the Padres if that’s what it came down to.

After his release, the Red Sox picked him up for $50,000. Epstein's strategy behind the signing of Lopez was to offer the infielder arbitration after the season, as his Type B free agent status would merit a supplemental draft pick going to Boston when he signed elsewhere. Essentially, the Red Sox were buying a draft pick for fifty grand, or so the plan was.

However, that plan blew up in the Red Sox’ face when the infielder agreed to sign a minor league deal with the Rays. In a column written around the time of Boston’s acquisition of Lopez, FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal made note that Lopez will "need to sign a major-league contract with another club for the Sox to collect the pick."

No major-league deal, no draft pick. Bummer. The pick would have figured to have been somewhere around 55-60 overall in the supplemental round according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about how the Red Sox were going to be sitting pretty when it comes draft time in June with five of the first sixty picks. If they were going to be stripped of any pick, obviously they would have chosen to lose the Felipe Lopez compensation pick. Instead, the Red Sox will now pick at 19, 26, 36 and 40.

Four of the first forty sounds just as nice as five of the first sixty. I'll take it.

-Jared Carrabis

Published on February 02, 2011

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