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GENERAL RESTRICTIONS:
1. Beginning with the 2020 season, no more than 14 players (formerly no more than 16 players) on a club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) may be on Optional Assignment at any one time prior to September 1st, and no more than twelve players may be on Optional Assignment at any one time beginning on September 1st and extending through the conclusion of the MLB regular season.
2. No player may be optioned to the minors prior to the start of Spring Training.
3. Beginning in 2022, a player can be optioned a maximum of five times in a given season. If a player has been optioned to the minors five times in a given season, Outright Assignment Waivers must be secured before he can be sent to the minors again.
EXCEPTIONS: If a player has been optioned five times previously in the season and then is claimed off waivers by another club, the claiming club can option the player to the minors one more time as long as the player was not on the claiming club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) sometime earlier that season.
NOTE: Because of the delay of the start of the 2022 MLB regular season, an optional assignment prior to May 2nd did not count toward the five option maximum limit in 2022.
4. Generally an injured player cannot be optioned to the minors. However, an injured player who did not accrue any MLB Service Time during the previous season, has not accrued at least three years of MLB Service Time, and was not selected in the previous Rule 5 Draft, can be optioned to the minors during a period of time beginning on the first day of Spring Training until the 15th day prior to the start of the next MLB regular season.
CAN BE OPTIONED IF INJURED UNTIL 15TH DAY PRIOR TO 2024 MLB OPENING DAY (last updated 3-15-2023):
TBD
5. A player who is optioned to the minors generally must remain on Optional Assignment for at least ten days (for a "position player") or 15 days (for a "pitcher or for a "two-way player"), and a "position-player" optioned to the minors during Spring Training generally must remain on Optional Assignment for the first ten days of the MLB regular season and a "pitcher" or a "two-way player" optioned to the minors during Spring Training generally must remain on Optional Assignment for the first 15 days of the MLB regular season.
EXCEPTIONS: The player is traded or claimed off waivers, is recalled as the extra man for a doubleheader (second game of the doubleheader only if two games were scheduled after a postponed or suspended game from the previous day) or other circumstances, is recalled to replace a player on the MLB Active List (26-man roster) who is traded, claimed off waivers, or placed on the MLB Injured List, Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List, Paternity Leave List, or Restricted List (but only pursuant to a suspension or administrative leave resulting from a violation or possible violation of the joint MLB-MLBPA JDV policy or a suspension resulting from a violation of the joint MLB-MLBPA JDPTP policy), or is recalled and then optioned back to the minors prior to a game being played where the game is postponed or cancelled.
NOTE: If a player is acquired in a trade and is optioned to the minors by his new club within 24 hours, the player can be recalled from the Optional Assignment at any time without restriction, but if a player on Optional Assignment to the minors is claimed off waivers and is then optioned to the minors by his new club, the ten-day limit (for "position players") or 15 day limit (for "pitchers" and for "two-way players") does apply. So as far as the ten-day ot 15-day limits are concerned, there is a distinction made between acquiring a player in a trade and claiming a player off waivers.
6. A player can be optioned to any of his club's minor league affiliates whose season (including post-season) is still in progress as long as the player has not exceeded the maximum number of professional seasons allowed for players at that level, but if the regular season (and post-season) of all four of the MLB club's full-season minor league affiliates have concluded, a player may be optioned to the club's Spring Training Complex in September.
NOTE: If a player is optioned to his club's Spring Training Complex in September because all of his club's minor league affiliates have concluded their regular seasons and post-seasons, the player will accrue MLB Service Time while on Optional Assignment. A player will also accrue MLB Service Time while on Optional Assignment if he is optioned to any minor league affiliate during the period of time beginning on the Friday after Labor Day extending through the conclusion of the MLB regular season.
7. A player on Optional Assignment to the minors must be recalled no later than the day after the conclusion of his club's MLB regular season.
OTHER RESTRICTIONS:
8. A Rule 5 "Selected Player" cannot be optioned to the minors until restrictions have been removed.
RULE 5 SELECTED PLAYERS WITH MINOR LEAGUE OPTIONS REMAINING (updated 3-12-2021):
NONE
9. Beginning on the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season, a Rule 5 "Draft-Excluded Player" cannot be optioned to the minors any earlier than 20 days prior to MLB Opening Day.
NOTE: An injured player with Draft Excluded Status who otherwise would be eligible to be optioned up until the 15th day prior to MLB Opening Day can be optioned only during a five-day window starting on the 20th day prior to the start of the MLB regular season up until the 15th day prior to the start of the MLB regular season.
DRAFT-EXCLUDED PLAYER WITH MINOR LEAGUE OPTIONS REMAINING (last updated 9-6-2023):
Luke Little, LHP
10. Per Article XIX-A of the CBA, any player on an MLB 40-man roster who has accrued at least five years of MLB Service Time (as well as an international player with Article XIX-A contractual rights) has the right to refuse an Optional Assignment to the minors, or the player can elect to be a free-agent immediately upon being optioned (he has two days to decide).
NOTE: If a player with Article XIX-A rights refuses an Optional Assignment but does not elect free-agency, the club must either retain the player on the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) AND Active List, trade the player, or give the player his Outright Release.
11. A player with Article XIX-A rights can waive his right to refuse an Optional Assignment in advance, but the waiver cannot be signed more than ten days prior to MLB Opening Day, the player has the right to designate in advance which minor league team to which he can be assigned, and the waiver automatically expires if the player is not optioned to the minors within 45 days or by the 45th day of the MLB regular season (whichever is later).
CUBS ARTICLE XIX-A PLAYERS WITH MINOR LEAGUE OPTIONS REMAINING (last updated 8-20-2023):
Cody Bellinger, OF
Michael Fulmer, RHP
Yan Gomes, C
Ian Happ, OF
Kyle Hendricks, RHP
Drew Smyly, LHP
Marcus Stroman, RHP
Seiya Suzuki, OF (International player with Article XIX-A rights)
Dansby Swanson, INF
Jameson Taillon, RHP
Recent comments
crunch 09/24/2023 - 09:52 pm (view)
cubs win...so do MIA and CIN,. ARZ is close to winning (up by 6 in the 8th). total wash of a day.
off day tomorrow then it's the last week of baseball...not an easy one vs MIL and ATL. last-week drama...
crunch 09/24/2023 - 09:47 pm (view)
merryweather puts the first couple guys on with 0 outs...and smyly is up in the pen. back end of the pen situation is a mess.
crunch 09/24/2023 - 09:31 pm (view)
"Coming into the game, they were 0-819 when trailing by nine runs or more." damn.
Charlie 09/24/2023 - 09:48 am (view)
I wonder how many pitchers have missed this much time in a relatively short span with recurring forearm issues and not had it lead to surgery.
Cubster 09/24/2023 - 09:34 am (view)
Historic win for Pirates...
https://www.mlb.com/news/pirates-mount-historic-rally-to-beat-reds?part…
Arizona Phil 09/23/2023 - 09:02 pm (view)
The deadline for trading players on an MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and players who were outrighted to the minors after signing a 2023 MLB contract was August 1st, but trades involving players on a minor league reserve list are prohibited beginning at 12 PM (Eastern) on the 7th day prior to the originally-scheduled conclusion of the 2023 MLB regular season (Sunday 9/24) through the last day of the MLB regular season (including a day on which a regular season game is played after the originally-scheduled conclusion of the MLB regular season).
Arizona Phil 09/24/2023 - 09:41 am (view)
jdrnym:
As you know, the abbreviation "DFA" stands for "Designated for Assignment."
There are three types of assignments:
1. Trade Assignment (when a player is traded from one MLB club to another)
2. Outright Assignment (when a player is sent to the club's minor league Domestic Reserve List after Outright Assignment Waivers have been secured).
3. Optional Assignment (when a player is optioned to the minors, subject to being recalled at a later time).
So when a player is Designated for Assignment, the player can either be traded, outrighted to the minors, or optioned to the minors.
Normally a player is not Designated for Assignment and then optioned to the minors, because the club could just option the player to the minors immediately without a DFA.
Back in the day It was not that unusual for a player to be Designated for Assignment so that Optional Assignment Waivers could be secured (Optional Assignment Waivers were required before certain players could be optioned to the minors, and just like the old Trade Assignment Waivers, Optional Assignment Waivers were revocable if a player was claimed).
https://www.thecubreporter.com/why-player-designated-assignment-and-the…
Optional Assignment Waivers were eliminated in 2016 and Trade Assignment Waivers were eliminated in 2021, so all revocable waivers have been eliminated. What's left are Outright Assignment Waivers and Outright Release Waivers, and both are irrevocable (cannot be withdrawn) once requested.
With the new five option limit whereby a player can be optioned to the minors no more than five times in a given season before Outright Assignment Waivers must be secured (and it - IS - Outright Assignment Waivers that must be secured, even though it is for the purpose of an Optional Assignment), it now might be necessary for a club to DFA a player to clear a spot on the MLB 26-man roster (MLB 28-man roster in September) for another player and to allow for the two days (actually 47 hours) required to run a player through waivers. After the two day "Waiver Claiming Period" concludes (and presuming the player isn't claimed), the player can be returned to the MLB 40-man roster and optioned to the minors (even after being Designated for Assignment). But for that to happen, the player can - NOT - be replaced on the MLB 40-man roster by another player after being Designated for Assignment.
However, in the case of Jordan Luplow, he had - NOT - been optioned to the minors five times in the 2023 season prior to be optioned to AAA St. Paul on 9/18, so the Twins did not need to DFA Luplow in order to secure Outright Assignment Waivers so that he could be optioned to the minors a sixth time. But because he was Designated for Assignment and not replaced on the 40 by another player after the DFA, the Twins could return him to the 40 and option him to the minors even after he was Designated for Assignment, because an Optional Assignment is one of the three types of assignments.
So Luplow was Designated for Assignment even though he didn't need to be, and then the Twins returned him to their MLB 40-man roster and optioned him to the minors a couple of days later (which they can do, since Luplow wasn't replaced on the 40 by another player after he was Designated for Assignment). What the Twins did (DFA Luplow and then return him to the 40 and option him to the minors a couple of days later) was within the rules. It's just very odd and doesn't make a lot of sense.
So I will offer what I believe is the most logical reason the Twins did this:
The Twins DFA'd Luplow because they intended to reinstate Chris Paddack from the 60-day IL, but then Carlos Correa suddenly needed to go on the 10-day IL and they recalled Trevor Larnach to replace Correa, but then they probably decided they should keep Luplow on the 40-man roster, too (and on Optional Assignment to AAA), and didn't want to risk losing him off waivers or by him electing free-agency after being outrighted. Luplow has Article XX-D rights (he has been outrighted to the minors previously in his career, so he would had the right to elect free-agency after he was outrighted). Clearly the Twins felt they might need Luplow's RH bat after losing Correa and with Royce Lewis having left a game with a hamstring injury that led to an IL assignment. And that meant that Paddack would remain on his minor league rehab assignment a few extra days, but the Twins will need him in the post-season, not now.
Also, if Luplow was outrighted instead of being optioned, he would no longer be automatically eligible to play in the post-season (except as a possible injury replacement).
Not only did Carlos Correa go on the IL, Royce Lewis went on the IL, too, two days after Correa went on the IL and two days after Luplow was optioned to AAA, so the Twins did in fact end up needing Luplow after all, and recalled him just a couple of days after he was optioned to replace Lewis on the MLB 28-man roster. (So both Larnach and Luplow were recalled within a couple of days of each other, replacing Correa and Lewis on the Twins MLB 28-man roster).
So that's all I've got. That is the only thing that makes sense. The Twins DFA'd Luplow because they had intended to replace him on the 40 with another player (probably Paddack) and hoped that they would be able to run him through waivers and that he wouldn't get claimed and that he would accept an Outright Assignment, but then they suddenly changed their minds because of the injury to Correa and the possibility that Lewis might also have to go on the IL (which did, in fact, happen the next day). Also, with the injuries to Correa and Lewis, the Twins wanted Luplow to remain automatically post-season eligible, which would not be the case if he was outrighted.
Again, the Twins were able to return Luplow to the 40 and option him to AAA because he hadn't been replaced on the 40 by another player after he was Designated for Assignment.
crunch 09/23/2023 - 09:00 pm (view)
CIN out here blowing a 9-0 lead they built through 3 innings. 9-9 tie in the 7th.
crunch 09/23/2023 - 09:05 pm (view)
boxburger 10d IL, k.thompson back up. it's his right forearm (again).
crunch 09/23/2023 - 09:12 pm (view)
merryweather got out of it, but he loaded the bases with 1 out. of course ross got cuas up in the pen...thankfully he didn't need to come in.
looks like cuas gets the 9th.