The Houston Astros will take at least the first player in next week’s Rule 5 draft, but could go after others as well, reports Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle:

The Astros will select at least one player in the upcoming Rule 5 draft, general manager Jeff Luhnow said Monday.

"There are definitely players of interest to us," Luhhow said. "It’s just a matter of how they fit on our roster compared to our other alternatives…

"I would suspect that we’re certainly going to make the first selection and possibly make two."

The Rule 5 draft will take place on Dec. 6 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the conclusion of the winter meetings. The special annual draft is the one chance for teams to have their pick of players from other minor-league systems who have exceeded their minor-league service time and are not protected by a 40-man roster spot.

Our own Matt Sullivan wrote a primer for this year’s scrap heap draft earlier this week, listing five ‘intriguing’ players that have the potential to be huge bargains down the line. The list of former Rule 5 picks that became household names includes David Ortiz, Josh Hamilton, Johan Santana and Dan Uggla.