The Cardinals did not select the next Hector Luna in the Rule 5 draft this morning, but they did more two selections in the minor-league portion of the draft.
AAA Phase
They selected Catcher Omar Falcon from Pittsburgh. He hit .264 in 58 games with 7 HRs and 28 RBIs. He was a third round pick by San Diego in 2000 and was selected by Seattle in the 2003 Rule 5 draft. He has some decent power and may be signed to back-up at Memphis with the departure of Mike Rose.
They also selected SS Jose Contreras from Washington. He was less spectacular at .201/0/15. I’m not sure what the motivation was with this pick, since his slugging percentage is actually 80 points lower than his OBP for an ugly OPS of .591 for his minor-league career. He’s only 21 and has been with the Expos/Nats since signing as an undrafted free agent 4 years ago. Who knows.
