16 December 2004

The Braves lost two players in last week's Rule 5 draft: outfielder Adam Stern was taken by the Red Sox as the 11th pick in the major-league phase, and second baseman Aaron Herr was taken by the Mariners as the 25th pick (second pick in round two) of the AAA phase. The Braves had no selections of their own. Curiously, I also noticed that Dan Kolb was selected by the Nationals (ahh, I'm going to miss the Expos!) from the Brewers as the eighth pick in the AA phase. But is it just me, or didn't the Braves just trade Jose Capellan and Alec Zumwalt to the Brewers for the same Dan Kolb? I don't know much about what Rule 5 stipulates, but just so you know, there is more than one Dan Kolb, and apparently both pitched for the Brewers last year. The one acquired by the Braves is listed at the Baseball Cube as Danny Kolb (Daniel Lee Kolb), a 29-year-old pitcher who had spent most of his young career in the Rangers' organization until last year. The one acquired by the Nationals is listed as Dan Kolb (Daniel Joseph Kolb), a 24-year-old pitcher who had spent all of his minor league career in the Brewers' system until last week's draft. It looks to me like Baseball Cube may have incorrect data for one or both Dan Kolbs, but I don't know enough to confirm or deny it.