Someone explain Minor League Options

[Councilmann_Jamm]

I had someone injured and moved up a minor league. The day injured player comes of DL I send my player back down and it says I used an option.

Do I have to send players back down before I simulate to the next day?

[steagles]

An option is a contractual thing that is used to send a guy back to the minors without passing him through waivers. Meaning if you have a guy who has already used 3/3 options, you might not want to call him up to replace a minor injury because you won't be able to send him back down without passing him through waivers. If he's any good, one of the bad teams will claim him and you'll lose him. I think those claims are revocable, meaning if he's claimed you can keep him but you can't send him down. If you choose to keep him and send him down again, you pass him through irrevocable waivers and a team can place a claim and you can't get him back.

An option is used once per season and counts against anyone who is sent back down from the majors to the minors and spends more than 20 days in the minors over the course of that season. To use all three options, the player must split three seasons between the majors and minors. I hope that made sense.

[LowerWolf]

You use an option when you send a player back down for the first time in a given season. Each player has three options. When a player is out of options, he has to clear waivers before he can be sent down again.

Since you've already optioned the player you sent down, you can move him up and down the rest of the season and it won't use another option. But if you move him down next season, you'll use another option.

[Ranger Fan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Councilmann_Jamm

I had someone injured and moved up a minor league. The day injured player comes of DL I send my player back down and it says I used an option. Do I have to send players back down before I simulate to the next day?

Players in the minors have options. I think its 3. That means they can be called up that many times. When they run out of options they must pass through waivers before being sent down. That is why it is a good idea to see how many options a player has left before bringing them up

[ML]

Quote:

Per mlb.com ... A player does not get options until he is placed on his team's 40-man roster. That's why when a non-roster invitee to Spring Training gets sent to the Minor League side, he's "reassigned" and not optioned. Once a player is put on the 40-man roster, the option countdown begins. A player is assigned three options as a rostered player. Each year, when a player who is on the roster gets sent to the Minor Leagues for a stint of more than 20 days, it counts as an option. If a player hits the magic number and the third option is up, that's when the term "out of options" comes up. Once the three options are used up, the Major League team cannot send the player down without trying to put him through waivers. That, in turn, exposes the player to the other 29 teams, who are all given an opportunity to claim him.

Except in MLBTS I think that the option is used regardless of the 20 day rule, although I could be wrong.

[Gambo187]

It's better referred to as "option years".

[Aviator87AC]

Wait a minute, now I'm confused.

When I began my franchise in Spring Training, I had 25/40 rosters spots filled. Since we lack the choice to send "spring invitationals", I just signed the top 10 prospects on the Rockies to the 40-man (all had 0/3 or 1/3 options).

When the season begins, we go back down to 25-man rosters right? So that means I can send 10 players back down to the minors, which burns an option for each of them. I didn't know I could then call them up/down all year without burning additional options on those players.

Is this really true?

[Bunselpower32]

Quote: Originally Posted by Aviator87AC

Wait a minute, now I'm confused. When I began my franchise in Spring Training, I had 25/40 rosters spots filled. Since we lack the choice to send "spring invitationals", I just signed the top 10 prospects on the Rockies to the 40-man (all had 0/3 or 1/3 options). When the season begins, we go back down to 25-man rosters right? So that means I can send 10 players back down to the minors, which burns an option for each of them. I didn't know I could then call them up/down all year without burning additional options on those players. Is this really true?

Yes, that is true, and why Gambo187 is right when he says "option years". We say options because it's shorter, but really what it is is an option year.

As far as contractual stuff like this, The Show gets it pretty much right.