Overall, it was a good day for the Cubs as they were able to hold onto all of their players that were eligible for the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft.

Only 14 players were selected in the MLB phase, and none of them came from the Cubs or were made by the Cubs. The team passed on their opportunity to make a selection and guys like Trevor Clifton, Erick Leal, Ian Rice, Jhonny Pareda, and Manny Rondon snuck through without being plucked up by other rebuilding organizations.

The team was a little more active when it came to the Minor League phase of the draft, picking up three new bodies while losing two guys along the way.

The new players to the organization are LHP Luis Lugo, RHP Alex Vargas, and catcher Rafelin Lorenzo.

Lugo was the team’s first pick, is a big lefty standing 6’5″ who has been used as a starter mostly throughout his career. I expect the team to move him to the bullpen full-time in 2019.

The other arm selected, Vargas, is another big guy that had been with the Yankees prior to Thursday afternoon. He works predominantly with a low-90s sinker and put up good numbers early in his career before missing an entire season due to some back problems.

A bit of a surprising pick was the organization’s selection of Lorenzo. The Cubs are pretty set at the catcher position up and down their levels, especially after not losing anyone during this draft. Lorenzo’s only played 24 games in A-ball last year and will probably only appear as a third backstop on a team in 2019.

During the mayhem, the Cubs also lost lefty relievers David Garner and Yapson Gomez. Garner spent all of 2018 suspended due to his second drug violation, but had positioned himself as a fringe depth reliever in Iowa prior to that. Gomez is a fun reliever to watch and he puts up decent numbers but does not have enough as far as potential goes to carve out a role in a Major League bullpen in the future.

A side note during the draft was the Arizona Diamondbacks selection of Jeffrey Baez from the San Francisco Giants. The toolsy outfielder had spent his entire career with the Cubs prior to signing a MiLB deal with the Giants early on this offseason. Still eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, San Fran probably jumped the gun a little too soon and lost him just a couple months later.

The takeaway from today is the great news that the Cubs didn’t lose any of their depth in the minors. There were several players that had a shot of being poached and will now position themselves in the next calendar year to be placed on the active roster going into next year’s Rule 5 Draft.