Can someone explain options to me!

[Houston]

With the transactions constantly going on for Major League teams, we thought it would be a good idea to go over some of the key roster rules that teams must adhere to, and help define them. First up on the list are the 25-man rosters and optional assignments.


The 25 Man Roster

Essentially, the 25 man roster is the active roster for each day's game. From the start of the season until August 31st of each season, the team can only use players on the 25 man roster in a game. As a result, players are pretty consistently added to, and removed from, the 25 man roster as team needs dictate. Some of the ways that players can be moved to/from the roster include:

• Placing a player on the 15-day disabled list
• Activating a player from the 15-day disabled list
• Calling up or sending down a player in the minors
• Signing a free agent or releasing a player

The key with the 25 man roster is this: All players on the 25 man roster must also be on the 40-man roster. No player can be added to just the 25 man roster without either already being on the 40-man roster, or added at the same time.


Options

If a player is removed from the 25 man roster and sent down to the minors, they are considered to be "optioned" to the minors. They are removed from the 25-man roster, but will remain on the 40-man roster as a result of this move. Each player has a limited number of options (3) that can be used for them. If the team has used up all of that players' options, the player will have to clear waivers prior to being sent to the minors.
Options are a bit tricky, but here's the basics:

• If a player is sent down to the minors on April 10th, he uses an option.
• The option is technically good for the whole year, meaning that however many times the player is called up and sent back down during that season, they still only use up 1 option.
• If a player stays up from the time they are called up through the rest of the season, no option is used. For example, Evan Longoria still has all 3 of his options, as he has never been sent down since being called up in 2008.
• A player must remain in the minors for 10 days before being recalled. The only exception is if the team places a player on the 25-man roster on the disabled list after the move.
• A player is not charged with an option if the total number of days spent in the minors during a season is fewer than twenty.
• A team can not option a player with five years or more major-league service time, without his consent. If the player refuses to be optioned, the team needs to either trade, release, or keep the player on the 25-man roster.

If a player is sent to the minors and has already used up all their options, they are required to be placed on waivers, where one of two things can occur:

• A team will claim the player, at which point the player's contract is transferred to this new team.
• No team puts in a claim on the player, and the original team can send him to the minors.

A fourth option is triggered for some players, instead of the traditional three. The player needs to meet the following criteria:

• Less than five pro seasons, and optioned in three separate years.
• Spent less than 90 days on an active pro team in a season, but not including a player who played a full season in short-season ball.
• Can't be placed on the disabled list after accumulated 60 days of service in any particular season.

[zman2392]

Quote: Originally Posted by kamackeris76

Love the game but still learning about the sport (I'm from the UK). How do the minor league options, waivers etc etc work. I wanted to bring a ss into my blue rays roster as tulo was getting tired and I had no other ss. Dropped smoak and it used one of his minor league options.... What does all this mean? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Also just in case you didn't know this each player also has a secondary position. So although no one on your bench is directly labelled as a ss, someone might be very proficient at ss and you can play him that game without a tonne of roster shuffling. For example on the Jays, Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney could all probably play shortstop as a secondary position. To see their secondary positions press triangle on the player to see their card and it should say on there. My apologies if you already knew this all but you would have a hard time if you kept having to call people up and down due to tiredness if you only knew about primary positions :P

[kamackeris76]

Yeh none of my blue jays had ss as secondary position so I was screwed how to rest him

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[JohnWick]

Quote: Originally Posted by kamackeris76

Yeh none of my blue jays had ss as secondary position so I was screwed how to rest him Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Not sure what roster you're using, but Goins has SS as his secondary position.

Also, you can edit players and add secondary positions if you need to.

Darwin Barney should have "IF" as his secondary position, since he has 149.2 career innings at SS and 63.2 at 3B.


Seems like a lot of secondary positions were overlooked on the official rosters...

[zman2392]

Agreed. Goins came up as a natural shortstop so he should 100% have that as a secondary. Don't have game in front of me now so cant check but im surprised that at least one of those two cant play there

[JohnWick]

Quote: Originally Posted by zman2392

Agreed. Goins came up as a natural shortstop so he should 100% have that as a secondary. Don't have game in front of me now so cant check but im surprised that at least one of those two cant play there

Goins can, on the official roster anyway.

[BrianM207]

Also, in franchise there is a "transactions handbook" that explains most transactions. So if your ever not in front of your computer/phone you can look there as well.

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