10 points to explain the rule 5 draft to me?

Answer 1

An organization must protect any player with six years of minor league service, or with seven years of minor league service, if that player signed before the age of 18.

The organization has only 40 spots that can be used to protect it's players, and those 40 spots must include all of the players on the proposed active roster.

At the winter General Managers' meeting, any team can draft a player from any other team if that player is not on that 40-man roster. There is a fee of $50,000 for this transaction. This is the rule 5 draft. A player drafted in this manner must remain on the 24-man roster or on the disabled list for the whole of the upcoming season. If not, he must be offered back to his previous organization for half of the drafting fee, or a trade must be done between the two teams that compensates his previous organization for the loss of that player.

There are different levels of the rule 5 draft. The first rounds apply to players who would be put on the major league roster. Subsequent rounds allow similar moves, with similar conditions, for players farther down in the farm system.

Answer 2

Basically, it's a draft where teams get to choose from other teams' lists of players who have been signed for 3-4 years, but who are left off a team's 40-man roster. The caveat, of course, is that you must keep any Rule V draftee in the majors for the whole following season, or offer him back to his original team for $25K, which is half the cost of drafting a player in the first place.

For a quick but clear explanation, check out this Baseball America article. Explains it much better than I could:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/askbarule5.html

Answer 3

It's basically a meeting in December where the general managers get together and make sure no team is "stock-pilling"(AKA getting all the good player)

Check it out yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_5_draft