Angels return promising minor league pitcher taken in Rule 5 draft to Dodgers

When the time came for the Dodgers to add prospects and other minor leaguers to their roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft last year, they opted for only one in Jack Dreyer, which has clearly worked out pretty well for LA.

Despite leaving a lot more prospects on the table, including No. 24 prospect Austin Gauthier, they only lost one in lefty pitcher Garrett McDaniels, who the Angels took with the first pick.

Per Rule 5 regulations, a player taken in the draft is purchased for $100,000 and must remain on the buying team's 26-man roster throughout the season; he has to be DFA'ed and placed on waivers to be removed. If he clears them, he's offered back to his original club for $50,000.

McDaniels was DFA'ed by the Angels on June 9, cleared waivers, and turned back over to the Dodgers on Saturday. He was sent straight to Oklahoma City.

Now that McDaniels has some major league experience under his belt — just 10 2/3 innings, but not nothing — he could be a plausible candidate to rejoin LA's reliever carousel and get a chance to prove to his old team that they were lucky to get him back.

Angels DFA pitcher Garrett McDaniels, return him to Dodgers after Rule 5 draft

McDaniels made 10 relief appearances for Anaheim before he went onto the IL with bicep tendinitis on May 3. He completed a short rehab assignment but struggled in Triple-A, so the Angels let him go instead of bringing him back to the majors. He had a 5.91 major league ERA at the time and had gotten knocked around in his last outing as an Angel, giving up three runs (including a homer) to the Tigers on May 1.

He has yet to pitch for the Comets, but if the Dodgers get desperate, he could be an easy choice. Matt Sauer was just optioned back to the minors to make room for Emmet Sheehan's reactivation; if the Dodgers lose another reliever and don't want to turn to Sauer, Will Klein, or Noah Davis, they could cut any of them to get McDaniels on the 40-man roster.

There could be some upside here, too; McDaniels was pretty good throughout his time in the Dodgers' minor league system, but only got three innings in Triple-A before he was propelled to the majors because of the Rule 5 draft. He could just need a little more time to tweak things in Oklahoma City before becoming a viable major league option.