Bierd Goes to the Birds

The Rule 5 Draft, in which players that aren't protected on major league 40-man rosters can be selected by other teams, finished up about an hour ago and the Detroit Tigers lost yet more minor league pitching as a result.  

The Baltimore Orioles selected reliever Randor Bierd with the third pick.  Bierd mostly pitched for the Double-A Erie Seawolves last season, finishing with a 3-2 record and 3.35 ERA in 45 2/3 innings.  He also posted 52 strikeouts.  For the year overall, Bierd's record was 4-3 with a 2.93 ERA, and 81 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings.

Take 75 North isn't too happy about losing Bierd, and is confused about the players the Tigers chose to protect instead.  D-Town Baseball feared something like this might happen, as well.  And The Surge can now add Bierd to the list of former Whitecaps that have left the Tigers organization in the past year.

The Baltimore Sun's Roch Kubatko thinks the Orioles would use Bierd as a middle reliever or in mop-up duty if he makes the major league club.  If he's not kept in the majors, he could go back to the Tigers for the cost of approximately $25,000.

You can view the full Rule 5 Draft results here.