rule changes for rosters in 2022

[djoctagone]

--if a player wins the jackie robinson rookie of the year in his league, he is credited with a full year of service time, regardless of any time spent in the minor leagues that season. interesting in that service time manipulation ends up being in the hands of the baseball writers' association of america.

Get ready for the griping from players that lose out, like when Braun won RoY over Tulowitzki by 2 points, to go from eye roll moments to actual anger because the stakes have been raised. Winner gets the service time bonus the loser is left in the cold.

mlb.com says it's any player who finishes in top two of jackie robinson rookie of the year. presumably, that's top two in each league, so if correct, four players would received a full year of service time . . . but again, at the hands of the baseball writers' association of america.

[djoctagone]

--contracts for arbitration-eligible players will be guaranteed.

[djoctagone]

mlb.com says it's any player who finishes in top two of jackie robinson rookie of the year. presumably, that's top two in each league, so if correct, four players would received a full year of service time . . . but again, at the hands of the baseball writers' association of america.

yes, full service time awarded for up to four rookies.

[djoctagone]

--clubs promoting top prospects to opening day rosters will be eligible to receive draft picks if the player finishes in the top three in the rookie of the year voting or top five in mvp/cy young voting.

 

again, the power of the baseball writers' association of america just grew tremendously.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Is the new rule that a player can be optioned 5 times in a season that impactful? I'm not sure if any Brewers were optioned that frequently. I tried to find online and only found one article talking about the Dodgers who were real abusers of this. Only 3 of their players were optioned more than 5 times. Seems like most teams could work around this rule by just calling up a different player. Most times, a player is just called up for mopup role so there are many players that can do that.

 

The unintended consequence of this is players who have been optioned five times will be unlikely to be recalled to the majors again that season. Teams wont want to be stuck with that player as they are essentially out of options. I assume the team would have to DFA, waive, etc to cremove them after that.

 

If anybody has a list of how many times Brewers players were optioned in a season, it would be interesting to see.

[djoctagone]

Is the new rule that a player can be optioned 5 times in a season that impactful? I'm not sure if any Brewers were optioned that frequently.

alec bettinger: sent on optional assignment seven times in 2021

hoby milner: sent on optional assignment six times in 2021

pablo reyes: sent on optional assignment six times in 2021

 

there may have been more (including guys with other organizations in 2021 who were sent on optional assignment by their clubs), but i think i got them all. understandably, i was only paying attention to the total number of days optioned and whether that player was burning his option in 2021.

[LouisEly]

--clubs promoting top prospects to opening day rosters will be eligible to receive draft picks if the player finishes in the top three in the rookie of the year voting or top five in mvp/cy young voting.

[sarcasm]What if they're not top prospects - does the franchise still get the picks? And who determines if they are a top prospect? Baseball America? MLB.com top 30? Who will be wielding the power to determine who is a "top prospect"?[/sarcasm]

 

(Need to maintain the sarcasm font, Brock.)

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Is the new rule that a player can be optioned 5 times in a season that impactful? I'm not sure if any Brewers were optioned that frequently.

alec bettinger: sent on optional assignment seven times in 2021

hoby milner: sent on optional assignment six times in 2021

pablo reyes: sent on optional assignment six times in 2021

 

there may have been more (including guys with other organizations in 2021 who were sent on optional assignment by their clubs), but i think i got them all. understandably, i was only paying attention to the total number of days optioned and whether that player was burning his option in 2021.

Thanks. Its more than I thought but I still dont think this impacts the Brewer's ability to shuttle players back and forth. Depending on how they construct their 40 man roster, as long as they have enough of these guys, they can shuttle each of them up to 5 times. That's a lot. Assuming all these pitchers stay on the 40 man, they have these pitchers with options next year: Ashby, Bettinger, File, Gustave, Meijia, Milner, A.Perdomo, M.Sanchez, and Topa. Plus there are 4 open spots left yet.

[djoctagone]

mlb is looking at potentially expanding rosters for april.

[djoctagone]

Thanks. Its [sic] more than I thought but I still dont [sic] think this impacts the Brewer's [sic] ability to shuttle players back and forth. Depending on how they construct their 40 man roster, as long as they have enough of these guys, they can shuttle each of them up to 5 times. That's a lot. Assuming all these pitchers stay on the 40 man, they have these pitchers with options next year: Ashby, Bettinger, File, Gustave, Meijia, Milner, A.Perdomo, M.Sanchez, and Topa. Plus there are 4 open spots left yet.

we don't know how long the requisite stay on optional assignment will be for pitchers. mlb officially made it 15 days prior to the start of the 2020 season, but then scrapped that rule because of the abbreviated season.

[djoctagone]

other things we don't know:

 

--does a player still retain his option year if he spends less than 20 days on optional assignment in a single season?

 

--can clubs still petition mlb for a fourth option year if a player spent one of his burned option years with a significant injury? presumably, the fourth option granted to j.c. mejia for the 2022 season remains intact.

[djoctagone]

alec bettinger: sent on optional assignment seven times in 2021

hoby milner: sent on optional assignment six times in 2021

pablo reyes: sent on optional assignment six times in 2021

 

there may have been more (including guys with other organizations in 2021 who were sent on optional assignment by their clubs), but i think i got them all.

adam mccalvy identified those three guys in this article, so it looks like i got 'em all. feels good to be researching rosters again.

[djoctagone]

--if a team has already claimed a player off outright waivers in a season, they cannot put in a claim attempt for him again until all other teams have passed.

 

last year, the seattle mariners claimed jacob nottingham from the brewers twice.

[645]

Are taxi squads gone now and other COVID stuff?

It is in the deal players can't travel to Canada without the jab.

canada's current laws won't allow athletes without covid-19 vaccination into the country. if a player misses games in canada because of vaccine issues, he will be docked pay and service time. curious if unvaxxed players missing these games would be put on a special covid-19 injured list (likely removing them from the 40-man) or a similar restricted list.

 

the blue jays were scheduled to play the brewers in 2022. it's in milwaukee, so barring a world series, this rule won't affect brewers players.

 

Of Course the Blue Jays have played in Buffalo the last 2 season. So they first have to go back to Toronto for it to effect any team.

[igor67]

I actually think the ROY thing is kind of an elegant way for the players to push back on service time manipulation. My first question would be how many ROY winners historically didn't get the benefit effectively of a full year when it came to arbitration/ super 2? Usually you need to be in a lot of games. I suspect it only happens some of the time, so finishing 3rd in the voting in practice will probably be less impactful overall than some might fear. Certainly someone will end up in the spot and feel slighted because they just missed out. However from the other side for your highly touted prospects even the possibility starts to affect how you manage the process. Before you could pick your date and be pretty confident you'd get most of the year out of the player and still benefit financially. Now you are in the position of deliberately making the team worse for 1-2 months and still seeing no financial benefit. I would anticipate more players will benefit from earlier service time as a result.

[djoctagone]

canada's current laws won't allow athletes without covid-19 vaccination into the country. if a player misses games in canada because of vaccine issues, he will be docked pay and service time. curious if unvaxxed players missing these games would be put on a special covid-19 injured list (likely removing them from the 40-man) or a similar restricted list.

 

the blue jays were scheduled to play the brewers in 2022. it's in milwaukee, so barring a world series, this rule won't affect brewers players.

Of Course the Blue Jays have played in Buffalo the last 2 season [sic]. So they first have to go back to Toronto for it to effect [sic] any team.

while it is true that the blue jays played in buffalo the last two seasons (i was at a game in june last summer), the blue jays eventually returned to playing games in toronto last season, and are scheduled to open the season in toronto on 8 april vs. texas.

[djoctagone]

On 3/11/2022 at 6:09 AM, djoctagone said:

also unknown, when's the trading deadline this year? 31 july is a sunday, where the majority of the games are afternoon games.

last year, mlb moved the trading deadline to 3:00 pm central on 30 july.

for the next five seasons under the new cba, the commissioner will be able to set the trading deadline between 28 july and 3 august.

[djoctagone]

On 3/10/2022 at 9:56 PM, djoctagone said:

we'll have to wait and see what happens with the requisite stay on the injured list and optional assignment for pitchers and two-way players.

the requisite stay for pitchers on optional assignment and for the injured list (non-concussion) has been increased to 15 days. it remains at 10 days for position players.

[djoctagone]

still unknown:

--does the special covid-19 injured list still exist and does it has the same rules as before? (the player is removed from the 40-man roster; an outbreak allows for replacement players to simply be returned to the minor leagues without outright waivers or optional assignment; and clubs can carry taxi squads up to five players on road trips.)

--can clubs still place an unvaccinated player on the special covid-19 restricted list even if he tests negative due to close contact via contact tracing? that's why jace peterson went on the restricted list last season when christian yelich tested positive . . . even though peterson tested negative, because he refused the covid-19 vaccine, he had to be removed from the roster and miss a minimum of seven days.

--does the return of a replacement player during a covid outbreak (who had been on optional assignment prior to the outbreak) to the minor leagues after a covid outbreak count as an optional assignment and thus, against the maximum of five instances allowed? last season, during an outbreak, clubs could return a replacement player who had been on the 40-man roster without an optional assignment. this is an important technicality with the new cba, if the same rule still applies. and is an outbreak still defined as three or more players?

--how long can minor league rehab assignments last? it had been 20 days for a position player and 30 days for a pitcher.

--what's the deadline for the opt-out clause for non-roster invitees who must be told they've made the opening day roster or paid a $100,00 retention bonus?

--and will the qualifications for a non-roster invitee to require an opt-out clause and retention bonus be the same as they were in the past (must have at least six years of service time, and must have finished the 2021 season on a major league roster or major league injured list)?

--we now know that the trading deadline is flexible per the commissioner, but we don't know the actual trading deadline for 2022.

--does a player still retain his option year if he spends less than 20 days on optional assignment in a single season?

--can clubs still petition mlb for a fourth option year if a player spent one of his burned option years with a significant injury? presumably, the fourth option granted to j.c. mejia for the 2022 season remains intact.

--are the contracts for jandel gustave, jace peterson, pedro severino and rowdy tellez fully guaranteed as they were signed under the previous collective bargaining agreement?

--we also need to verify roster expansion for: doubleheaders, games in september, and for doubleheaders in september.

with regards to roster management, can anyone else think of anything that's still unknown?

[djoctagone]

per this article, mlb and the mlb players association are still discussing health and safety protocols, and expect to announce something in 24-48 hours.

thus, we should know if the covid-19 restricted list will be in place, and if it will differ from last year's rules regarding roster management.

[Pugger]

One thing I wish they would do is have the umpires' crew chief announce calls like they do in football so we all will know what is going on, especially with replays.  

[pitchleague]

4 hours ago, Pugger said:

One thing I wish they would do is have the umpires' crew chief announce calls like they do in football so we all will know what is going on, especially with replays.  

Uh, yeah!  I can't like this post more!  It is insane how simple this could be done, but still baseball refuses to keep everyone in the dark.  I mean, they could even just have the umps call up the press box and tell what's going on.  It would take 30 seconds.

[djoctagone]

10 hours ago, pitchleague said:

Uh, yeah!  I can't like this post more!  It is insane how simple this could be done, but still baseball refuses to keep everyone in the dark.  I mean, they could even just have the umps call up the press box and tell what's going on.  It would take 30 seconds.

this thread has enough going on it just addressing roster management rules. please continue any discussion on umpires here. thank you.

[djoctagone]

On 3/10/2022 at 5:01 PM, djoctagone said:

--players can no longer be sent on optional assignment unlimited times in a given season. a player can be sent to the minor leagues on optional assignment a maximum of five times. if the club wishes to send him to the minor leagues after being optioned five times, he must be placed on outright waivers. any team claiming him would be forced to place him on their 26-man roster, because he's already hit that limit of five optional assignments in the season.

not entirely correct here regarding being forced to place a claimed player on the 26-man roster. provided the player placed on outright waivers after hitting five options wasn't part of the organization that's claiming him earlier that season, the claiming club can place that player on optional assignment one more time after claiming him (essentially a sixth optional assignment). however, any future demotions to the minors after that sixth optional assignment will require outright waivers, not an optional assignment.

[djoctagone]

On 3/14/2022 at 11:43 AM, djoctagone said:

--what's the deadline for the opt-out clause for non-roster invitees who must be told they've made the opening day roster or paid a $100,00 retention bonus?

there are new opt-out dates in place: five days before opening day, 1 may and 1 june. unclear if retention bonuses are still in play with these opt-out dates.