Jeremy Nygaard

Jack - glad to have you pitching in... Can you think of any situations when you were with the Twins when this happened? If so, please tell... Also, with the timing of the waivers... were there ever times that the Twins made or didn't make moves at specific times to try to enhance the possibility of clearing waivers? I'm guessing there was some sort of analysis on that. Lastly, how does it all work from the team's perspective? I'm assuming back in the day it was all done by fax... but with technology being what it is, what's the actual process?

With the August trade period eliminated, I'm under the impression that "revocable waivers" are also a thing of the past. I'm also guessing revocable waivers is the reason that only seven players can be placed on waivers per day. All other times of the year, waivers are irrevocable.

In the first installment of this series, we looked at one of the ways a team has roster flexibility: the existence of the “optional assignment.” Simply (though it’s much more confusing than this), teams have three seasons where they can move players on the 40-man roster from their active (25-man) roster to the minor leagues and vice versa. We also learned that there is a rare exception which allows a team to do this during a fourth season.You’ll hear a player was “recalled” when put on the active roster and “optioned” when sent off the active roster. Both moves require a player stays on the 40-man roster. We’ve also learned that when a team wants to add a player to its 40-man and, likely, 25-man roster during the season, it “purchases” or “selects” a player's contract. This is also the correct time to use the term “called up.” So that leaves this question to answer: How do you take a player OFF the 40-man roster? Today, you’ll get to learn all about waivers and the ever-popular, designating a player for assignment. Almost exclusively during the season, when removing a player from the 25- and 40-man roster (unless traded), he is “designated for assignment (DFA).” That means the following things: The “designated” player is no longer on the 40-man roster (or the 25-man roster, if he was active), the team is immediately using that roster spot (either 25- or 40-man) for someone else, and that “designated” player goes into a place called “DFA limbo” (that’s not an official term) for up to seven days. So why DFA? It gives teams flexibility to make decisions. In early April, Jake Odorizzi threw a two-out clunker before Rocco and Wes turned to the bullpen to get 22 outs on 156 pitches. The bullpen was unexpectedly gassed and they needed reinforcements now. Because it happened within the first 10 days of the season and no one was injured, a player could not be recalled. So whoever was added could not be on the 40-man, which was full. Designating a player for assignment is the mechanism that allows a team to make that move immediately. Tyler Austin was DFA’d and Chase De Jong was selected from Rochester. Austin was removed from both the 25- and 40- man roster and De Jong was added to both. Ta-da. It also works out perfectly that we can just follow the paths of these two players to explain everything else. Tyler Austin was designated for assignment on Saturday, April 6. That starts the 7-day clock. While in DFA limbo, Austin will still be paid his major league salary and will still be credited with major league service time. (Sidebar: If a player was DFA’d in late December, Christmas Day through New Year’s Day are not counted… that is if a player was DFA’d on December 23rd, the seven day window would go from December 23 (24, January 2, 3, 4, 5) through January 6.) Once designated, the Twins worked to trade Austin, which they did to the Giants two days later. But what could they have done if they weren’t able to trade him? Well, the "for assignment" part of the transaction could be trade, outright waivers or release. Players don’t have to be DFA’d to be played on waivers. And we’ve already seen that players don’t have to subjected to waivers when DFA’d. It’s just very common to see these two things work in conjunction with each other. Our other player path was Chase De Jong. After being selected on April 6, De Jong was optioned only four days later. But while in Rochester, he was part of another transaction: he was placed on and cleared outright waivers. It was announced on the morning of April 26 that he was “outrighted” off the roster and assigned to Triple-A. There are a lot of things to clear up in this very simple paper move. After being selected on April 6, De Jong was optioned only four days later. De Jong stops collecting service time and a major league paycheck upon being optioned. As he wasn’t on the 40-man roster prior to joining the Twins, this is his first optional assignment of the season and 2019 would be his third and final option year. But while in Rochester, he was part of another transaction: he was placed on and cleared outright waivers. First off, being removed from the 40-man roster takes him off of optional assignment. If you count the days he was on optional assignment, it’s less than 20… so the option doesn’t count (yet) and 2019 isn’t his final option. Secondly, players spend two days on waivers. And the waiver period expires at 3pm (locally) each day. So working backwards, the Twins announced on April 26 that he cleared waivers and was outrighted. He actually cleared the afternoon before (25th), which means he was placed on waivers sometime between 3pm on the 22nd and 23rd. That left him available to be claimed for two business days. He was “outrighted” off the roster and assigned to Triple-A. Largely procedural, he was already in Rochester. The unique part of this move was that De Jong would have been informed by the Twins that he was being removed from the 40-man roster and had cleared waivers on the 25th. Because he had been outrighted (taken off the 40-man roster by clearing waivers) before, he had the option to refuse the assignment and become an immediate free agent. He turned that option down and will remain in the organization. Unless re-added to the 40-man roster, he will be a free-agent at the end of the season. GLOSSARY: Designate for Assignment (DFA): Being removed from the 40-man and 25-man roster to provide the team with an immediate roster spot. Players can be traded, placed on waivers or released. Outright waivers: The transaction that can occur either inside or outside of a DFA. Players must be offered to all other clubs before they can be sent to the minor leagues. Claiming teams must add immediately to 40-man roster (and 25-man roster if out of options). Often times this leads to another player being DFA’d. Click here to view the article

Someone could probably write a full-length article on this... but the decisions the Twins made last July through this spring training put them in a great position. 1) From the easy to say perspective: They have the best record in the AL. 2) If they weren't competitive, they have a whole bunch of guys they can move - Odorizzi, Gibson, Pineda, Schoop, Castro, Cruz - without touching their young core. They still have very few dollars committed to next year (less than $20 million). 3) If they wanted to go full rebuild (which I can't see happening even if they lose every game from now til July), they could move those expiring deals and super valuable guys while still having top prospects to replace them. (I don't see it going this way, but a future outfield/1B group of Kepler, Kirilloff, Raley, Rooker, Larnach would play. A future infield of Polanco, Lewis, Arraez, Javier would play. And there are pitching prospects. Plus, you move DUDES... and that adds DUDES.) Not all of these three outcomes look the same in 2020 and 2021... but all of these outcomes could produce multiple playoff teams.

He doesn't have to be added until November 2020, so there's plenty of reasons to argue against adding him before that. This is just one reason why adding him this season - if you think he's absolutely going to debut next season - isn't completely counterintuitive. The concern about room on the 40-man is a real thing though... the names to be added this offseason is not short. (It's basically everyone the team acquired through trade last summer plus guys like Graterol, Jax and more.) If I had to bet on it, I think the Twins turn a decent amount of these guys into a controllable starter in July. With the rotation consisting of three pending free agents, adding someone like Marcus Stroman or Luis Castillo (purely speculative) would make a lot of sense. Castillo would cost a ton, but if the Reds felt like moving him, the Twins have the assets to easily make it happen (and probably do it without moving the big three).

Thanks guys!

Last week, we took an in-depth look at how options in baseball work. It's an incredibly mundane series of rules and explanations with plenty of technicalities. Yet, there is one part of the usage of the rule that is far less understood, even inside of baseball itself: The Fourth Option.You've been led all along your whole life to believe to that there were only three options available to be used on players. And, yet, here we are, after all of these years, telling you it isn't entirely true. On my power ranking of lists of things that aren't true and how it changes your lives, the Belief in Only Three Options ranks only behind Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, slightly edging out the Tooth Fairy. So without further ado... A FOURTH OPTION YEAR? How in the world...? Let’s figure that out. When a player signs, a clock starts. That clock is running toward a time when players must be added to the 40-man or risk exposure to the Rule 5 draft. But another clock starts, too, and that one is only counting “professional years.” Though it seems simple, it’s not as simple as it sounds. You need 90 days on an active roster to achieve that year. Suspensions, long-term injuries and *interesting* promotions can leave a player just shy in terms of accumulating a full professional season. To add another layer to the minutiae: This clock only matters if you are out of options before your fifth full professional season, which is why it’s such a rare occurrence. Kennys Vargas is the last Twin to be optioned in four seasons. After having his contract purchased in November of 2013, he spent parts or all of 2014, 2015 and 2016 on optional assignment. But, BOOM! 2017 rolls around and he’s optioned again… for the fourth time. How come? Well, two years in rookie ball (where seasons don’t last 90 days) and a suspension will do that. His first full accredited service year was 2013. His next three - 2014 through 2016 - left him out of options before his fifth full season; therefore, one more option year. Typically, the tell-tale sign for me is if a player is added to the 40-man roster after his first full season in low-A ball. It’s not foolproof, but it’s a decent indicator. Let’s take Jorge Polanco, for example. Purchased along with Kennys Vargas in November of 2013 after a full season of (and first exposure to) low-A ball. (Sorry, “purchasing” is the act of adding a player to the 40-man roster.) Polanco then spent 2014, 2015 and 2016 on optional assignments. He would follow the exact same path as Vargas, right? Right?! Wrong. It’s all worked out OK for Polanco since going on a second-half tear in 2017. But in the first half of the season he struggled and the Twins couldn’t send him down… thanks to a careless error they made in the July of 2010(!). In Polanco’s first try at pro ball, he was sent to the Dominican Summer League, a league that starts and ends earlier than rookie domestic leagues (but is still less than 90 days). In early July, however, Polanco was promoted to the GCL. Kudos to the Twins for getting Polanco (and Miguel Sano) additional at-bats… but BOOO the Twins for having Polanco (and Sano) active for 92 days that season. That promotion gave Polanco five seasons under his belt coming into 2017… and he was out of options. I know what you’re thinking… “Are you telling me the Twins screwed up and cost Miguel Sano a fourth option year!?” Not at all. First, Sano went two years (2016 and 2017) without being optioned, so there was no way he could qualify for a fourth regardless. Plus, he was signed after the conclusion of the minor league season in 2009, so his need to be added to the 40-man roster was a year later than Polanco, Vargas, and (next) Max Kepler, which put him on a different timeline completely. So what about Max Kepler? Also purchased with Polanco and Vargas, Kepler spent all of 2014 on optional assignment. His second option year, 2015, ended with a September cameo. He started 2016, his third option year, in Rochester before being recalled. He never returned to the minors. But could he have in 2017? Sure. He was out of options and within his first five professional season. In fact, if the Twins needed to, they may have been able to option him in 2018 as well. Why? Kepler missed much of 2013 with an elbow injury and failed to be active for the required 90 days. That means his first full professional season was 2014 and coming into last season he would have been, again, out of options and within his first five professional seasons. In the fall of 2013, before Kepler really exploded, many questioned why the Twins would add him to the 40-man roster, citing, correctly, that there was no way he’d be able to play in MLB and his development would be ruined. While a fair point, he would have been taken and stashed, because even at that time, you could figure out he’d get that fourth option. Call it a redshirt year… or whatever you’d like. He needed to be added. It was the same reason I believed the Twins should have added Johan Quezada to their 40-man roster last November (and, since they didn’t, should next November): the possibility of another option year (and really, another year of team control). As touched on last week, Fernando Romero is in line for a fourth option in 2020, if the need arises. As 2016 was his first professional season and he was added to the 40-man that off-season, Romero ran through three options (2017, 2018 and 2019) in his first four seasons. That allows him to be sent on optional assignment next season. Injuries (and, oh boy, do I have a humdinger for you a little later) are the most likely reason to trigger the elusive fourth options - former Twins prospects Randy Rosario and J.T. Chargois were heading down the road to eligibility before they left the organization (and I stopped keeping track) - but there is one other very possible scenario: The nearly-ready-for-the-MLB-draft-pick. In the linked last week and again here, Brock Stewart of the Dodgers thought he was out of options. (The story does a good job with accuracy; however, it misinforms readers that you get three options “once [you] reach the major leagues” when, in fact, for most, your first option comes before you sniff a major league baseball game.Though in Stewart’s case, he did reach the majors first.) As it turns out, Stewart spent his 2014 draft season (less than 90 days) pitching in rookie ball. His first full season was split between A-level clubs and he was “called up” (or “purchased”) during the 2016 season. He was also optioned in 2016. And then 2017 and 2018. Three options, four professional season. Have fun on that AAA/MLB Shuttle again this year, Brock! So, you ready for the humdinger? Let’s talk briefly about Alex Kirilloff. What if he comes back, rakes like we expect him to and, due to an injury, the Twins need another outfielder? Should he be considered? The correct answer is absolutely. For one, he’s such a good hitter, he shouldn’t need three option years to begin with. But, more importantly, even if he did, he’d qualify for the fourth option. Last year was his first full professional season due to a missing a year with an elbow injury. If he’s added a year from now, he wouldn’t be afforded that luxury. So, really, it wouldn’t make sense to not add him if you think he’s ready. (Service time manipulators notwithstanding.) If you have more questions about options, please ask. Until then, put the following into your baseball vernacular. (If you have leave a question about an upcoming topic, I’ll weave the answer into that particular story.) GLOSSARY “Option” is the act of sending a player on the 40-man roster to the minor leagues. “Recall” is the act of bringing a 40-man player from the minor league to the major leagues. “Calling up” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 25-man roster. “Purchasing (the contract)” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 40-man roster… and can also be used when adding to the 25-man roster. “Optional assignment” is a yearly thing. You could be optioned/recalled an unlimited number of times each year. Once you’re optioned, you cannot be recalled for 10 days (unless you’re replacing someone on the injured list). You have to spend 20 days on optional assignment for it to count. If you spend less, the option does not count and you receive service time for the days you were “on option.” Players qualify for a fourth option if they have used up their three options, but don’t have five years of professional service. (A “year” is considered 90 days on an active roster.) Click here to view the article

Roster maintenance. DeJong wouldn't have been called up if it weren't for being within the first 10 days of the season. Now they're just taking him off because they can. (He cleared waivers and they keep him in the organization.) My understanding is that waivers don't run on the weekend, so if they wanted/needed to use his 40-man spot in the next couple of days, he'd have to be DFA'd, which would prevent him from pitching while in DFA limbo. Now, they have a little bit more roster flexibility since he's already off. Also, he will retain this option as his assignment was less than 20 days.

This is correct. 20 days total.

On this Across the Meadow Podcast: Topics and Time Stamp: 0:00 Kohl Stewart's season debut. 0:03 Wednesday transactions. 0:04 Stewart vs Astros last year.0:08 John will never be a homer. 0:09 Should the Twins have used an opener tonight? 0:10 The bullpen: Mejia, May, Hildenberger. 0:22 John loses his mind about officiating. 0:24 More bullpen 0:30 Craig Kimbrel 0:40 Amish farms 0:42 John interviews DSP 0:59 Finer Points Series 1:05 Local bar scene 1:08 Hitters & trading for a pitcher You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Additionally, you can access all the previous episodes as well. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening! Click here to view the article

I wasn't... but that would be fun!

Over the next six weeks, I’m going to take a dive into the details of how rosters are put together and managed. There is an abundance of verbiage used on a regular basis around the baseball world that many people don’t understand or misunderstand. Hopefully this series will help clarify things. What’s more likely, though, is that it’s going to get a lot murkier before it starts to clear up. First up, we’re going to tackle OPTIONS.We’ve all heard it. “Coach, are you making any transactions?” “Yeah, we’re going to option Vasquez to Rochester and recall Tyler Duffey.” So what does that mean? Well, this transaction the Twins made recently is the simplest form of making a transaction involving options. Both Andrew Vasquez and Tyler Duffey are on the Twins 40-man roster, so “optioning” Vasquez means that while he’s still on the 40-man roster, he’s no longer on the 25-man roster. It also means the he is not out of options. (More on that later.) The word “recall” means that Duffey, who was on optional assignment is now on the active roster. Easy peasy, right? Well, yeah… sorta. But what about all the other transactions that involve options? Or transactions that don’t happen because of a lack of options? Over the coming weeks we’ll look at how the 40-man is composed and the rules behind it, but with this piece we’re only going to focus on the players on the 40-man roster. All teams are allowed to carry 40 players with major league contracts, but only 25 can be on the “active” roster. The rest must be on the injured list or, if playing in the minor leagues, on an optional assignment. That means that teams are allowed to carry 15 players on major league contracts, who are not in the major leagues. Most players get on the 40-man roster the same way: The team is forced to add them in November prior to the Rule 5 Draft in December. (Again, we’ll talk more about what that means later in this series.) These players, usually guys who are playing A- or AA-ball, don’t make it long in spring training before being “optioned” to minor league camp. This past November, the Twins added LaMonte Wade, Nick Gordon and Luis Arraez to their 40-man roster. All three were optioned at the same time - in the second round of roster cuts - and were the first position players sent out. Upon being “optioned” to minor league camp, all three players are on their first year of “optional assignment.” And now, because they have all spent at least 20 days on “optional assignment,” it’s official: They have used an option. That’s it. There will be times through the course of a season where a player is optioned and recalled repeatedly. If his stints - short or long - on optional assignment add up to 20 days, that counts as an option. Their 2019 season counts as a season they spent on optional assignment. If a player spends a majority of a season in the major leagues, is optioned on the first of July and recalled on July 17th, while spending no more time in the minor leagues after that, that option would not count because it was less than 20 days. Additionally, he would receive major league service time for the entire season. I've said “first option” or “first year of optional assignment,” so that must mean that they get more than one, right? Exactly. The widespread belief is that players get three options. And that is true 99% of the time. (Sadly, very few people - including some in baseball - understand why and when players are granted that rare fourth option. We’ll cover that in depth next week.) After a player has spent three years on optional assignment, it becomes much more difficult to send him to the minor leagues. We'll discuss this more in-depth soon, but Tyler Austin is a prime example of a player that is out of options... which, in turn, limited the Twins options when they needed his roster spot. And as simple as it's sounded so far, there’s more. While teams can place players on optional assignment for parts or all of three seasons, there are actual limits in place that prevent that, in some cases. Injured players cannot be optioned. Otherwise, it would have made sense to option Gabriel Moya to the minor leagues during spring training. He will likely be activated and immediately optioned when healthy (This happened earlier today.) Miguel Sano is a similar case. If it would have been allowed, optioning him and stopping his service clock would be a way to manipulate service time. So it’s simply not allowed. Players who have five or more years of experience cannot be optioned without consent. This came into play in 2012 with Jason Marquis. Marquis signed a major-league contract but missed a significant amount of spring training due to a family emergency. Unable to get into game shape - and with an option remaining - he accepted a minor league assignment to get ready for the season despite having the ability to reject it. (He struggled upon his re-arrival to the big leagues and was released before the end of May.) (Jeremy’s note: At one point, there was a such a thing called “optional assignment waivers.” Players that had amassed a certain amount of service time had to clear this set of waivers to be sent on optional assignment to the minor leagues. It was understood among teams that anyone placed on this set of waivers had given consent, so other teams would not claim them. This forced teams to DFA players - this happened to Andrew Albers once - before optioning them. This was eliminated before the 2017 season.) If you have more questions about options, please ask. Until then, put the following into your baseball vernacular. (If you have leave a question about an upcoming topic, I’ll weave the answer into that particular story.) GLOSSARY “Option” is the act of sending a player on the 40-man roster to the minor leagues. “Recall” is the act of bringing a 40-man player from the minor league to the major leagues. “Calling up” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 25-man roster. “Purchasing/selecting (the contract)” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 40-man roster… and can also be used when adding to the 25-man roster. “Optional assignment” is a yearly thing. You could be optioned/recalled an unlimited number of times each year. Once you’re optioned, you cannot be recalled for 10 days (unless you’re replacing someone on the injured list). You have to spend 20 days on optional assignment for it to count. If you spend less, the option does not count and you receive service time for the days you were “on option.” STATUS (Let's take a closer look at the players on the 40-man roster with less than five years of service time.) OUT OF OPTIONS INF Ehire Adrianza 1B C.J. Cron OF Max Kepler P Matt Magill P Trevor May P Adalberto Mejia P Blake Parker SS Jorge Polanco LAST OPTION (cannot be optioned after this season) P Chase DeJong (technically, DeJong has not been on optional assignment for 20 days yet this season) P Tyler Duffey SS Ronald Torreyes OTHERS 2B Luis Arraez (used: 1) UTIL Willians Astudillo (used: 1) P Jose Berrios (used: 2) OF Byron Buxton (used: 2) OF Jake Cave (used: 1 -- 2019 could be his second, if he's not recalled within 20 days) C Mitch Garver (used: 1) SS Nick Gordon (used: 1) P Stephen Gonsalves (used: 2) P Ryne Harper (used: 0) P Trevor Hildenberger (used: 0) P Zack Littell (used: 2) P Gabriel Moya (used: 1 -- 2019 could be his second, if he's not recalled within 20 days) P Fernando Romero (used: 3 -- should qualify for fourth, if needed*) P Taylor Rogers (used: 1) SUPERMAN Eddie Rosario (used: 2) 3B Miguel Sano (used: 2) P Kohl Stewart (used: 1) P Lewis Thorpe (used: 2) P Andrew Vasquez (used: 1) OF LaMonte Wade (used: 1) *We will do this in more depth next week, but Romero is on his third optional assignment. What is noteworthy is that Romero blew out his elbow in 2014 and didn't pitch again until 2016, which was his first season with the 90 days necessary to account for a "professional season." That means that 2019 is only his fourth season and he would be eligible for the elusive fourth option in 2020. You're welcome. Click here to view the article

On this Across the Meadow Podcast: - Reviewing all that has happened over the last week. - Was sending Cron the right move? - Do Rocco and Wes know what they're doing in terms of bullpen usage? - Who are the other bullpen options behind the current guys? - The good and the bad of the lineup. - Pimping Home Runs.You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Additionally, you can access all the previous episodes as well. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening! Click here to view the article

On this Across the Meadow Podcast: - Final 25-Man Roster - 30 guys made the trip north with four slated to go on the DL. So what's left to decide? - Ryne Harper - surely you've heard the name if you've been following Spring Training at all. - Jorge Polanco Injury - should we be concerned? - Pitching Contracts - everyone else is extending their pitchers. Is it time for the Twins to extend Berrios? - Season Predictions - why bother with watching all 162 games when we tell you how it's going to play out?You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening! Click here to view the article

It's been about a month since our last episode, but with the signing of Marwin Gonzalez, we couldn't stay silent any longer. We also discussed the recently-signed extensions, some other potential extensions and much more.You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening! Click here to view the article

It's been over four weeks since our last recording, so we cover all (both?) of the major news items. Additionally, we were able to find 90 minutes to talk about this and other things you know you want to listen to.You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Nelson Cruz Signing and Possible Extensions: 1:58 Martin Perez Signing: 10:07 Craig Kimbrel? Other Free Agents & Payroll: 23:07 25-Man Roster Predictions: 45:50 Question from the Audience (Perez, Media and the fans, Free Agents) : 1:11:10 Let us know what you think and thanks for listening! Click here to view the article

Teams usually leave a spot open in advance of the Rule 5 draft whether they draft a player or not. You typically have some play on your 40-man over the course of the offseason. For this particular exercise, we wanted to keep a roster space, cause that's what most teams will do in advance of setting their 40-man roster.