Spring training is in full swing, and various non-roster veterans and top prospects jostling for space on major league rosters. MLBTR's Anthony Franco took a look yesterday at some players who are out of minor league options and could find themselves squeezed off their current roster, depending on spring plays out.
There's another angle with which one can view minor league options, of course: the team side of things. Clubs generally try to avoid stacking too many veteran players who either lack minor league options or have the five-plus years of service needed in order to have say over a potential optional assignment to the minors. Having too many players who can't be optioned can set a club back when there's a player or two who needs a couple days off but does not need a full IL stint.
It's also common in today's game for clubs to aggressively shuffle their bullpens over the course of a season, too; a lack of optionable players can create a headache for clubs after a blowout or marathon extra-inning game that taxes the majority of the pitching staff. Being able to summon a fresh arm or two from Triple-A without needing to pass someone else through waivers is crucial to preserving depth and keeping a team's best arms healthy.
Most clubs have plenty of flexibility when it comes to these situations, but that's not universally true. Around 20% of the league has a very limited number of players who can be sent down without needing to clear waivers, and that could lead to some tough decisions for those clubs as Opening Day draws near. Let's take a run through some of the game's least-flexible rosters and see what sort of decisions they'll be facing as the spring winds down.
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It’s sad to say, but this post gives me hope that the Nats might snag a player or two who would stick on our roster. It reminds me of the really lean years before all the playoffs and Championship, but I am for anything that makes the team marginally better.
At first glance, I thought this headline read, ‘6 Teams Dealing With Crunchy Options’.
#Bart Harley Jarvis
Mmmmmmm… Crunchy options… *drools
Mariners are also squezed on position players. They’ve got four guys to cover RF and DH (and back up to Arozarena and JRod in LF and CF) — Canzone, Raley, Refsnyder and Robles — and Cal Raleigh has to get some PAs at DH, too. Of the four, only Canzone can be optioned. In the infield, where they are set at 1B (Naylor) and SS (Crawford), they need to cover 2B and 3B with some combination of Donovan, Cole Young, Leo Rivas and Miles Mastrobuoni. Mastrobuoni has no options, the rest do, but if Donovan and Young win the starting jobs, they’re not going to be optioned, so the choice likely becomes Rivas or Mastrobuoni, and only Rivas can be sent out. And if Colt Emerson plays his way onto the team, it gets even more complicated.
I figured the White Sox would be one of the six teams. They have a serious log jam of out-of-options guys in pretty much every every non-pitching position. And in every case, the guy who is out of options is the inferior talent.
I wonder which of those teams is in the biggest crunch? From the looks of things I’m guessing the Braves, but maybe the Padres or Mariners?
The team closest to Derry, New Hampshire where Capt’n Crunch Berries was founded.
Im not sure the Padres are counting on Marquez to round out their rotation, he’s one of about 6 SPs vying for the #5 slot.
Now we gotta pay for articles. Jesus we need a new service. We need to dump this site
I think they will keep Rivas and trade/DFA Mastrobuoni. That way they can send Rivas down if Emerson is ready.
The White Sox are collecting formerly intriguing prospects. Maybe they plan on DFAing 5 of them at once and figure that they can manage to pass two or three through waivers and outright them.
There shouldn’t be a comma before “too.”