Rule 5 Reports: Red Sox RHP Dan Turpen Selected by Yankees

The final pick in the 2010 Rule 5 Draft saw the Yankees take righty reliever Dan Turpen from the rival Red Sox. I already talked about how unlikely it is for a Yankee Rule 5’er to stick in my writeup of Robert Fish; does Turpen have a better chance, or were the Yankees just messing with their rivals’ heads?

Turpen is a thick, beefy righthander acquired from the Giants at the trade deadline. He’s got good size and a good sinker, and unlike many of the sinkerballers selected in the Rule 5 Draft this year, he actually strikes out some batters. He lacks enough in the way of stuff to profile as a high-leverage pitcher, but Turpen could fall short of embarrassing himself in the bigs this year and be a solid middle man for plenty of years after.

Still, there’s the matter of Turpen skipping Triple-A and his merely moderate upside. Those aren’t huge sticking points when it comes to the Rule 5, but this is the Yankees here, and if they can help it, they don’t settle for second-rate assets, which a good 80% of this year’s Rule 5 picks qualify as. It’s a solid pick, but given the organization, Turpen’s unlikely to stick.