Sports // Astros

Astros protect Velasquez, Torreyes, Feliz from Rule 5 draft

At the last minute Thursday, the Astros seemed to get it right.

Then they did what they've done so well, so often this year: made it messy.

The baseball world was confused Thursday when the Astros decided they would protect a low-ceiling, Class AAA infielder named Ronald Torreyes from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, but not a hard-throwing righthanded pitcher with great upside who hasn't advanced beyond low Class A, Michael Feliz.

The team announced whom it was going to protect from the draft in an afternoon release: Torreyes and pitching prospect Vincent Velasquez.

Shortly thereafter, general manager Jeff Luhnow spoke to the Chronicle and explained his reasoning, citing Torreyes' readiness to contribute in the big leagues.

"The success rate of pitchers going from low A to the big leagues is minuscule," Luhnow said by phone as to why he didn't protect Feliz and other pitchers who fit the same description, like Jandel Gustave. "It's a risk that we're wiling to take at this point."

In the meantime, talent evaluators reacted incredulously. One told the Chronicle that Feliz, as well as some other players the Astros did not protect, could well be taken in the Rule 5 draft, to be conducted on Dec. 11. Baseball America reported a belief that Feliz would go No. 1 overall.

In short: Many were puzzled why this 21-year-old kid, Feliz, was not put on the team's 40-man roster so he would be protected. The Astros' logic seemed to center on an idea that although he had a big arm, Feliz was unlikely to remain in the big leagues for an entire season. Players who do not do so can be reacquired by their original teams.

Then, about an hour before the 10:59 p.m. deadline to set rosters, Feliz was put on the 40-man. It seemed the Astros came to their senses - something to be celebrated for an Astros fan - but Luhnow created confusion in his explanation for why the Astros waited.

There were trade discussions, Luhnow said, that kept Feliz off the roster. He gave no details when pressed.

What's in question now isn't whether the Astros got the decision right, which they seem to have in protecting Feliz. It's whether they tried to cover their tracks with a lie.

When the Astros set their roster in the afternoon, there were two spots available on the 40-man roster. It is theoretically possible they could have been discussing a trade so large they needed to keep Feliz off the roster, but it's a hard scenario to fathom.

The Chronicle spoke with multiple people in the Astros organization Thursday, ahead of the night's revised roster announcement, and they described the team's plan as was what was executed in the initial news release. None described a different plan, and none gave any indication Feliz might be added later.

So was there actually a trade that would have required keeping Feliz off the roster? If so, why not wait to send the news release? Was Feliz always going to be a part of the 40-man roster by the deadline Thursday?

Here's how Luhnow explained it by phone when asked why he waited so long.

"Because the deadline's 11 o'clock, so we knew that all along, and we were planning accordingly," Luhnow said.

But a trade held him up?

"Yeah," Luhnow said. "We had some discussions with some other clubs, and (they) didn't come to fruition."

What would be the trade benefit of keeping Feliz off the 40-man roster?

"You'll have to figure that out," he said. "I'm not going to get into what the discussion was."

(Theoretically, if a trade were large enough and Feliz was not a part of it, the Astros could have needed the roster space. It would have needed to be a large trade, however, and the question would remain: Why would Feliz go unprotected while other players regarded to have a lesser upside were protected?)

So the trade talks won't come to fruition?

"Not necessarily," Luhnow said. "Obviously, there's a lot of deals going down right now. There were two deals done in the last hour.

"So there's always discussion intensified by the fact that teams have to make decisions on rosters."