Earlier today I questioned the Tigers leaving Luis Marte off the 40 man roster and then exposing him to the rule 5 draft. Yeah, it turns out I was wrong.

Jon Paul Morosi noted in his Baseball America chat today ($) that Marte wasn’t eligible. On Beck’s blog he mentioned my article and then later edited his post to indicate that Marte wasn’t eligible.

This confused me because Marte, who was born on 8/28/1986 and signed on November 16th 2005, would have been a 19 year old signee entering his 4th Rule 5 draft (05/06/07/08). Nineteen year olds are normally afforded 3 years of protection and eighteen year olds get 4.

But there’s a catch I wasn’t aware of. From Baseball America

Players who were 18 or younger on June 5 preceding the signing of their first contract must be protected after four minor league seasons. Players 19 and older must be protected after three seasons.

So Marte was only considered an 18 year old, meaning he doesn’t need to be protected until next year.

That’s the story, and I apologize for the confusion.