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Dustin H. sent in an email asking…
“Could you please explain what DFA means and how it relates to major and minor league assignment and what does it mean to clear and not clear waivers? After reading all of the recent articles on who would be sent back to AAA and the issues with Jorge Sosa and Joe Smith, I am confused. Can you help clear this up for me?”
When a player is designated for assignment, or “DFA” for short, the team has three options, which must take place within 10 days.
The first option is to place the player on waivers. When placed on waivers the player is removed from the 40-man roster with the purpose of outrighting him to a minor league affiliate. However, a player can only be outrighted without his consent one time in his career or the player can withhold consent. Players can also withhold consent if they have five years or more of major league experience. If the player accepts the minor league assignment he must continue to be paid at his agreed upon salary in his contract.
Before being outrighted a player must clear waivers, which typically takes three to five days. If a player is claimed on waivers, he becomes property of that team and the process is complete.
If Nelson Figueroa passes through waivers he is expected to be assigned to Triple-A New Orleans.
In the case of Sosa, he has five years of major league experience, so the Mets must wait to see if he accepts the minor league assignment or is claimed on waivers or they must complete one of the next two options.
The second option is to trade the player. In order for the player to be traded he must clear waivers. If a player has 10 years of major league experience, in which the last five have been with his current team, the player cannot be traded without consent.
The final option is to release the player. If the team releases him, the player must continue to be paid according to the contractual agreement between the team and player. At that time the player becomes a free agent and may sign with any team. However, if the player signs with another team, the team that releases the player still must pay the player a pro-rated amount of the major league minimum.
In the case of Smith, he has what are called “options.” Once a player has been with a major league organization for three years he must be protected on the 40-man roster or placed in the Rule V draft. In the three years that follow assignment to the 40-man roster the team earns options. Which means, the player can be freely moved up and down from the minor league without subjecting the player to waivers.
A player is out of option in the fourth year of being on the 40-man roster and cannot be sent down without clearing waivers first.
Only players ineligible for free agency can be optioned.
…i hope this clears the situation up for you, dustin…
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let’s go mets!
This post was really informative, thank you!
Let’s Go Mets!
Can the Mets option Willie Randolph back to the American League?
I agree…great job explaining it!
Not that Mike Nichols didnt explain this well but I am still confused.
so this means that heilman is out of options, right? even if they weren’t used?
I don’t think that part of the explanation was right. The club gets three option years, but they aren’t necessarily the three years following the addition to the 40-man roster. I think even Gary Cohen said that Aaron Heilman has an option year left, which is consistent with that explanation.
then he should be optioned to AAA without a doubt
“However, if the player signs with another team, the team that releases the player still must pay the player a pro-rated amount of the major league minimum.”
I didn’t know that part, I thought they still had to pay his contractual salary. That’s good news on Sosa, as he’ll undoubtedly sign with some team if (when?) he’s released. Paying him his whole salary to go away was already a great value as it was!
I would assume that means that the team that signs him must still pay him mlb minimum.
The team that signs him can pay whatever it negotiates. Most often that’s the minimum. The team that releases him is responsible for whatever the released player’s contract was, less what the new team is paying. So, if Sosa clears waivers and refuses a minor league assignment, thus becoming a free agent, the Mets will continue to pay him his 2M salary less the salary he makes from a new team that signs him. If, say, the Rangers sign him for the league minimum (which I think is now 400k), then the Mets are on the hook for 1.6M (the 2M less the 400), but of course prorated (that is, the Mets have paid Sosa roughly 500k so far this year so there’s 1.5M left to pay; Rangers would pay 75% of the 400k because there’s 75% of the season left, so they pay 300k — the Mets net total remaining to Sosa would be 1.5M – 300k = 1.2M).
There you have it.
I love this site and am just suggesting this as constructive criticism: if the above is correct then perhaps we could see a little more editing before things are posted? I mean, when “won” is confused with “one” it is at least still understandable to the reader what was intended. But at the very least the facts should be correct.
Is there a list that has the 40 man roster on it that includes the options left?
I dont understand – why would a team trade for a DFA’d player rather than just claim him off waivers?
maybe b/c they are lower down in the waiver order?
speaking of, is that publicly available?
I still have one question, how does the DFA rule work when a player signs a minor league contract. LIke figgy for instance, since he signed a minor league deal doesn’t that allow him to be freely sent back to the minors?? Is there a clause in those minor league contracts about once they are brought up to the bigs???
That helped, but I still find this topic confusing. With all the resources out there, you would think there would be a chart of each player and their situation (options, 5 years?, etc).
Here is the info on Figgy’s contract:
Nelson Figueroa rhp
1 year (2008)
contract purchased 4/2/08, DFA 5/13/08
signed as a free agent 2/6/08 (minor-league contract)
ML service: 2.018