Mets Select Kyle Lobstein In Rule 5 Draft, Eye Trade With Tigers?

In the Rule 5 draft this morning the Mets selected LHP Kyle Lobstein during Round One of the major league phase. Lobstein had been a member of the Tampa Bay Rays organization and spent 2012 as a starter for the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. He pitched to a 4.06 ERA in the Southern League, striking out 20% and walking 11% of the batters he faced. He was orginally a second round pick in 2008 as a projectable prep lefty, but never really added any velocity to his high 80s fastball. Lobstein missed making Baseball America's Top 30 Rays Prospect List for 2012, but made the 2011 list at #29. At the time Lobstein reportedly was sitting 86-87 with his fastball and also featured a high 70s curve along with a potentially average change-up.

While initial speculation was that Lobstein might be a potential LOOGY option for New York, Jonathan Mayo tweeted that the Tigers passed a note to the Mets shortly before the pick was made. As Sandy Alderson had said earlier in the week that it was unlikely that the Mets would make a Rule 5 pick, this seems to indicate that the Mets took Lobstein in order to trade him to the Tigers, most likely for cash or a non-40-man player.

The Mets made no further picks in either the major league or minor league portion of the draft and did not have any of their players selected by other teams.

UPDATE

Tigers Director of Media Relations Brian Britten confirmed via Twitter that the Tigers have sent the Mets cash considerations for the rights to Lobstein.