April 15: Singer has been assigned outright to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers, the Phillies announced.
April 13: The Phillies announced Wednesday morning that they’ve reinstated right-hander Corey Knebel from the Covid-related injured list and designated left-hander Jeff Singer for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Singer, 28, was just selected to the big league roster yesterday when Knebel landed on the Covid list. Placement on the Covid-related IL is not necessarily indicative of a positive test, as players can also be placed on the list if they are deemed a close contact to a confirmed positive case or if they exhibit symptoms and undergo testing. Knebel was dealing with flu-like symptoms earlier in the week, though it would appear any such concerns have subsided.
For those wondering why Singer was not eligible to be “returned” to the Triple-A roster without needing to pass through waivers — as we saw with Covid replacement players on several occasions in 2021 — MLBTR has confirmed that the 2022 health-and-safety protocols stipulate that waiver-exempt replacement/substitute players can be utilized only if a team “experiences a significant number of Covid-19 IL placements … such that it implicates a club’s ability to field a competitive team.” That threshold is subject to commissioner Rob Manfred’s discretion, but Knebel was a one-off case with the Phillies and thus could not be replaced by a “substitute” player.
Thus, it’ll be a brief one-day call-up to the Majors for Singer, who did not appear in last night’s game. That’s a harsh reality that now comes with the possibility of him changing hands via a small trade or a claim from another club on outright waivers. On the flip side, he just logged his first day of Major League service time and the subsequent prorated pay that comes with it. He’ll continue to accrue Major League service and pay as long as he’s in DFA limbo for anywhere from the next two to seven days.
The 28-year-old Singer has tossed four shutout innings so far for the IronPigs in 2022, though he’s also yielded four walks against just a pair of strikeouts. The Philadelphia native spent the 2021 season in Triple-A as well, pitching to a 4.75 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate against a 10.9% walk rate. He’s kept his strikeout rate in the 27-29% range over the past several minor league seasons, albeit without particularly strong walk rates. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he’d return to Lehigh Valley and remain with the organization, though he’d no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.
He essentially just got a free ticket to a game.
and got a nice seat too!
Hope the clubhouse had some good food too!!
Technically I think he also now qualifies for free medical benefits for life. Not a bad trade off.
Edit: Just looked it up and yup, medical benies for life.
‘Arguably, Major League Baseball (“MLB”) offers one of the best pension and healthcare programs in all of sports. Players vest in their pensions after 43 days on the active roster and just one day qualifies a player for lifetime healthcare. Playing isn’t even a requirement, benchwarmers may qualify for benefits as well.’
Nice! I was curious about that one myself. Thanks for clarifying.
Bucket……
Lifetime healthcare after a day is an internet myth that just won’t die.
This is from the “player chat” with Christian Bergman and he addresses that falsehood……………
“…… reminds me of one more myth – you do not get lifetime healthcare by playing one day in the big leagues. You get MLB healthcare for the calendar year if you play one day, but you have to accumulate 4+ years of MLB service time to even have access to pay for the MLB healthcare after retirement. I ended with 2 years 130ish days of service and I don’t have access to that plan”
https://www.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat-with-former-mlb-pitcher-christian-bergman-12469.html
Ben Davis often comments on air about guys becoming fully vested when they make it to ten years in the big leagues.
Ahh. This is a bummer. Thanks for these details.
Thank you for clariying that.
No problem Bucket. I wish that false article would vanish from the web but that is the world we live in now.
As to pension vesting, I cannot find the more recent info that I once read (like and idiot I forgot to save it) but the 43 days is a little misleading.
This is from 2018…… “”This pension plan covers MLB players, coaches, trainers and managers. For every 43 days of active service in a season, they earn one quarter of a year of service maximum 4 quarters per season); pension benefits are related
to both service and pay. For current players, the plan considers the “normal” retirement age to be 62. Early partial distributions are available to all vested former players, with adjustments to their normal retirement benefit accordingly.”
https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2020/2018-mlb-stats.pdf
From 2021……….
“Major League Baseball has the best pension program of all professional sports. A big-league player needs a short amount of time—just 43 days of service—to qualify for a pension benefit. Forty-three days of service can guarantee an MLB player almost $9,000 per year pension benefit.”
“After ten years of service time, players earn their full pension, which
guarantees players a minimum of $63,000 a year and up to $220,000 if they wait until turning 62 to start collecting.”
https://sport-net.org/what-is-mlb-retirement-pay/
With all of that you have to consider that “….the average career lasts about 3¾ seasons, and 60% of the players never reach salary arbitration, which in most cases takes three full years.”
While the pension and medical are great you have to be very good and very lucky to obtain the full benefits
He got to make the call to the family to say he’s going to the big leagues
Elias and Ziggy, the Super Computer need to scoop up this guy and make the Phillies pay!!
Plus, I think the Orioles could use him!!
*SCRANTON SHEEP
Ya, but does the medical benefit cover the Panda’s pregnancy?
You mean he’s NOT pregnant?
Betcha SINGER thought he had his big league spot SEWED up !!
This is going to be a very long season…. this team sucks !