The Cardinals will get some extra roster flexibility. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reported yesterday (on X) that St. Louis was granted a fourth option on left-hander Zack Thompson.
After a player is added to the 40-man roster, they can typically be assigned to the minors in three seasons. If a player who is on the 40-man spends at least 20 days in the minors during a season, that subtracts one of those years. In certain circumstances, teams are allowed to option a player for a fourth season.
A player is eligible for a fourth option if they exhaust their three option years before they’ve played five professional seasons. MLB defines a professional season as one in which a player spent at least 90 days on an MLB or minor league active roster. Many players will spend a few years with a minor league affiliate before they’re added to a 40-man roster. As those count as professional seasons but are not option years, most players reach five seasons prior to running out of options.
Thompson was St. Louis’ first-round pick in 2019. The Cardinals assigned him to their rookie ball affiliate that year. That league didn’t have a 90-day schedule, so that did not count as a professional season. The following minor league season was canceled by the pandemic. As a result, the southpaw didn’t accrue a full professional season until 2021. The Cardinals put him on the 40-man roster the following year. Thompson was optioned in each of the last three years but falls shy of five professional seasons.
The 27-year-old Thompson has yet to find much MLB success. He owns a 4.50 earned run average across 52 appearances. After turning in a 2.08 ERA as a rookie, he allowed 4.48 earned runs per nine in ’23. Thompson only made five MLB appearances this past season. He was rocked for 18 runs in 17 innings.
That would’ve made it difficult for the Cards to justify carrying him in the Opening Day bullpen. There’s a solid chance Thompson would’ve landed on waivers if were out of options. Instead, the Cardinals can send him back to Triple-A Memphis for one more year. He started 20 of 21 appearances there this year, posting a 4.90 ERA while striking out 27.4% of opponents over 90 innings.
Cause if the first 3 weren’t enough to know what you have….
Oh maybe you should go read about Randy Johnsons expos days?
Sometimes even great scouts like the expos had in the 1980s-1990s know what they got talent wise, the player just needs to make an adjustment? Like Luke Weaver and his “stupid fastball grip” for the entirety of his major league career till last year? The difference was 5MPH? Which took his fastball from a bottom tier to 97 mph plus plus fastball?
If you need more proof go look at his numbers as well. In randy Johnsons case he needed to land more evenly on his foot? Believe he was landing on his heal which is almost similar to the mechanical issue Wainwright had a few years ago. Late bloomers are beautiful too. Just ask Tommy Pham and Adolis Garcia
Add Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion to that list. Encarnacion was 22 in his first MLB season and didn’t break out until he was 29.
R.A. Dickey is another one.
Jamie Moyer didn’t get good until his thirties and had his only 20 win seasons at ages 38 and 40.
Tino Martinez didn’t fully click till he was 27, Edgar Martinez didn’t fully click till 27, David Ortiz didn’t fully click till he was 27, Andrew Miller had the best years of his career from 29-32, Rich Hill didn’t click till age 32, Charlie Morton started putting it all together at age 33, David Freese started putting it all together at age 28.
Zack Thompson just turned 27
I doubt Thompson will be used as a starter again, as others in the Cardinals system have passed him by. He may have a roll in the bullpen though.
Another Cardinals success story.
Read the article.
Were they “granted” a fourth option or did they have a fourth option? It seems to me if there’s a standing rule, then that rule would just happen. The word “grant” implies they requested or applied for an additional option, and that it could have been denied. Not trying to pick nits, but…
Cardinals really botched his development. He went straight to AAA after the year off in 2020 and shocker it didn’t go well.
It wasn’t a year off in 2020, they were just in perpetual training camps.
Teams were only allowed a certain number of players. Apparently, Thompson wasn’t one of those players.
Say what you will but teams always want to hang on to lefty pitching, and sometimes they blossom late like Glavine or Guidry. If you check the waiver wire it is almost always RHP.
Glavine was nearly league average at 23 and 24 and won a Cy Young at 25. I wouldn’t call him a late bloomer.
Jamie Moyer is another good example.
Funny, for the purposes of granting themselves a 4th option, a professional season is 90 days. For the purposes of arb eligibility and free agency, a season is 172 days.