How the MLB option system works?

by DarrenMA on Jan 16, 2008 10:38 PM EST Comment 15 comments

Is there an X amount of options (called up/sent down = 1 option) given to each player? If not, can someone explain how exactly the MLB system works for prospects? For instance, what is the consequence for dropping a prospect? Can they be picked up right away again? Anything and everything about the process please.

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Options Explained

From: http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/transanctionsprimer.html

"Options"
After three years as a pro, a player must be protected on a team's 40-man roster, or he is eligible for the Rule 5 draft (more on that later). Once he's served those three years, and assuming he is added to the 40-man roster, his club then has what are called "options" on him.

When a player is on the 40-man roster but not on the 25-man Major League roster, he is on "optional assignment." One common misconception about the rules is that a player may only be "optioned out" three times. Actually, each player has three option years, and he can be sent up and down as many times as the club chooses within those three seasons.

When you hear that a player is "out of options," that means he's been on the 40-man roster during three different seasons, beginning with his fourth as a pro, and to be sent down again he'll have to clear waivers (more on those below).

by jsm68 on Jan 16, 2008 11:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

One more thing

certain players get 4 options instead of three, but this pretty much only covers players who signed major league contracts as an amateur.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Jan 17, 2008 8:31 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

thought that changed

I thought that changed with the latest MLBPA. Sonething about needing four years now and age when drafted.

by acr on Jan 16, 2008 11:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

info

Options are not number of times sent down/called up, it goes by years. If a player is drafted out of college, they have to be put on the 40 man roster after their 4th season in the minors. If the player is signed out of high school/international signing, he has 5 years. When a player is placed on the 40 man roster, he then has 3 option years. A team can option a player down/call him up an unlimited number of times over those 3 seasons. There are certain specific cases where a player doesn't lose an option year, I believe if he isn't sent down at all and has less than x number of service days, but someone else can clarify that. When a player is "out of options" it means he's entering his 4th season on the 40 man roster and can't be optioned down without clearing waivers.

The next waiver period is Feb 16th through April 29th. Once a player is waived, if he "clears" waivers and isn't claimed, he can be optioned down unless he has x number of service years, I forget what it is, and then he can refuse the assignment and become a free agent. Once a player clears waivers, he can be recalled/optioned back any time during that waiver period in which he cleared. The second waiver period is April 29-July 31, and the same rules apply.

So here's an example. The A's waive Dan Meyer on April 5th. No one claims him, he can be re-assigned to 3A and recalled again before April 29th and then sent down again if need be. The A's can call him up any time before April 29th and then send him down again without him having to clear. If they call him up on April 30th, any time until July 31st, he will have to pass through waivers again. Once he clears, he can again be optioned. After July 31st, players have to clear waivers again.

I think that's right. If I missed anything, someone else can fill in the blanks.

by phuturephillies on Jan 16, 2008 11:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The 5-year rule

that pertains to minor league free agency, not options. If a minor leaguer spends 5 years without being put on the 40-man, they can become a free agent. Options only come into play when someone is already on the 40-man roster.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Jan 17, 2008 8:32 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

4/5 years

I think he was talking about Rule V eligibilty, and not about options.

by ajake57 on Jan 17, 2008 1:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Please answer.

Can someone answer this? Do teams have to wait a certain amount of days before they can call a player back up after dropping them?

by DarrenMA on Jan 17, 2008 12:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

10 Days

When a player is sent to the minors using an option, they must wait ten days before calling them back up to the majors, unless there is an injury on the MLB club, then they can come back to replace the injured player before the ten days are up.

FYI, using an option is not the same thing as "dropping" a player.

by aCone419 on Jan 17, 2008 2:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

A question of my own, and some answers

First, the answers: Players have 4 years if they're signed at age 19 or older, and 5 years if signed at age 18 or younger, before the team needs to put them on the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. There's no rule that you have to, though-- Gregorio Petit of the A's was signed at age 16, survived the Rule 5 at age 20 and again at age 21, and then was finally added to the 40-man roster last year to protect him.

Players with SEVEN years' service in the minor leagues (or who have been released by the team that drafted them) become free agents.

Options: A player uses an option in a year in which he is on the 40-man roster but not on the 25-man roster at any point (other than for rehab purposes). Players normally have three option years, but can gain a fourth if they have five or less "pro seasons" at the time they run out. The "pro season" definition is funky, because it excludes short-season leagues. In practice, what it means is that guys who get added to the 40-man when they're still in single-A to protect them from the Rule 5 draft will often have 4 option years, as will guys who sign for major league contracts like David Price. It almost never applies to anyone else.

There are some more rules about optioning players with a lot of MLB service time, and whether they have to be paid, but those hardly ever come up.

Now, my question: Why is it that guys are considered to use an option when they get called up for the first time in September? They go straight from the minors to the active roster, right? They don't spend any time on optional assignment. Seems like it shouldn't "count" as using an option to me.

by PaulThomas on Jan 17, 2008 3:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Optional assignment

They are on optional assignment all year. Look at your own definition:

"A player uses an option in a year in which he is on the 40-man roster but not on the 25-man roster at any point"

September callups are guys on the 40 who were sent on optional assignment to the minors at the beginning of the year. Think of it as if everyone on the 40-man is a major leaguer and if you want them to be playing in the minors you must send them on an optional assignment.

Now on the other hand, if a player has options left but spends the whole year in the majors that does not use up an option. That's how the Cubs were able to send Mark Prior to the minors last year. They hadn't used all his options, but he hadn't accrued enough service time to have the right to "refuse the option" and be declared a free agent.

by aCone419 on Jan 17, 2008 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear

I meant players whose contracts were purchased in September and added to the 40-man roster for the first time at that time.

Daric Barton is, as I understand it, considered to have used an option for the 2007 season. His contract was purchased on something like September 12, 2007. Up to that point, he wasn't on the 40-man roster.

by PaulThomas on Jan 17, 2008 8:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Syd Thryft

Does anyone remember when Thryft was running the Pirates and he miscalculated the option years of Wes Chamberlain and I beleive Moises Alou...and lost both (eventually, i think he received Zane Smith form the Spos for Alou)

"our deepest fears are not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fears is that we are powerful beyong measure."

by gashousegang on Jan 17, 2008 6:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

It was Larry Doughty, not Thrift

Also, it wasn't screwed up options exactly, but rather the waiver rules.

From http://www.post-gazette.com/pirates/questions/20010619bucsqa2.asp

MEYER: Larry Doughty did make a mistake with the waiver rules in 1990, but it did not concern the Moises Alou trade Aug. 8. That trade sent Alou, pitcher Scott Ruskin and infielder Willie Greene to the Expos for Smith, whose contributions down the stretch that year helped the Pirates hold off the New York Mets. Alou was supposed to be a "player to be named later" in that trade. However, when the trade was announced after the game of Aug. 7, Doughty slipped up and mentioned Alou's name to the media.

On Aug. 30, the Pirates acquired outfielder/first baseman Carmelo Martinez from Philadelphia. That followed Doughty fouling up waiver rules when he placed outfielders Wes Chamberlain and Julio Peguero on irrevocable waivers and the Phillies claimed both. The Pirates and Phillies worked out a trade to try to cover this, but the bottom line was that the Phillies wound up with Chamberlain, Peguero and outfielder Tony Longmire, who was in the trade, and the Pirates had Martinez.

by calig23 on Jan 18, 2008 4:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs