I didnt protect a player of mine from the rule 5 draft and in turn he got drafted by another franchise. I checked out the wavier wire today and he was waived by that franchise. I wanted to reclaim him but under action it wont allow me to do that. If the franchise who drafted him through rule 5 doesnt want him shouldnt he be offered back to his original team?

I think the other teams have a shot to claim him first, although he is still treated as a Rule 5 player (he must be placed on the ML roster).

He has to clear waivers before he can be offered back.  I thought that you could claim him on waivers, but that he would retain his R5 status if you won the claim and would need to be assigned to your major league roster.  Only if he fully cleared waivers would you get the offer  back.  If you accept him back at that time, he would lose his R5 status and you could assign him to the minors if you wished.

Of course, the raise in salary stays, even if they offer the Rule 5 player back within an hour of receiving him in the Rule 5.

Posted by tecwrg on 12/1/2012 5:59:00 PM (view original):
He has to clear waivers before he can be offered back.  I thought that you could claim him on waivers, but that he would retain his R5 status if you won the claim and would need to be assigned to your major league roster.  Only if he fully cleared waivers would you get the offer  back.  If you accept him back at that time, he would lose his R5 status and you could assign him to the minors if you wished.

I thought he had to be offered back before he could be waived.

Under Rule 5 Offer Back in help

This will begin the process of offering a Rule 5 selection back to his original franchise for $25,000. First, however, the player must go through the waiver process so that the other franchises have a chance to land the player while maintaining his special Rule 5 selection status.