SoxProspects News
|
|
|
|
Legal
Forum Ground Rules
The views expressed by the members of this Forum do not necessarily reflect the views of SoxProspects, LLC.
© 2003-2024 SoxProspects, LLC
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Home | Search | My Profile | Messages | Members | Help |
Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
Alex Hassan claimed by A's
|
Post by jmei on Nov 18, 2014 10:18:38 GMT -5
If they got him through and he wasn't claimed, doesn't he have the option of being a free agent if he wanted? I know he's local but perhaps they knew he wasn't going to return anyways. Why would he? Makes little sense from his career perspective. He has more opportunity elsewhere. I'm always fuzzy on this, but I believe they could have outrighted him. As for why he'd want to stick around, don't underestimate the effect of being in the organization that put resources into developing you versus one to whom you're just another MLFA. Not a huge thing, but it's a thing. A player can be outrighted to the minors once in his career. Since I believe Hassan has not yet been outrighted yet, I think he would have stayed in the Red Sox system had he cleared waivers. I don't believe Lavarnway or Britton have ever been outrighted either (though this is just off the top of my head and I could be wrong), so they would remain in the organization if DFAed and they clear waivers. Ditto Dan Butler and Alex Wilson. I'm not sure about Jemile Weeks.
|
|
|
Post by jmei on Nov 18, 2014 10:32:38 GMT -5
By the way, here's Alex Hassan versus LHP over the last few years and over his minor league career:
2014 (AAA): 143 PAs, .336/.420/.508 2013 (AAA): 79 PAs, .323/.430/.600 Career (MiLB): 474 PAs, .310/.424/.508
In my mind, there's no way that guy isn't a useful MLB role player or that you'd protect Lavarnway or Britton over him, and probably Butler/Weeks as well. Even as the short end of a platoon and with not a ton of defensive value (though note that he has the versaility to play 1B/LF/RF and is probably a better defender than Gomes), a guy who is probably at least a true-talent .260/.360/.400ish hitter versus LHP is valuable, especially since he has an option left and may still be playable versus RHP (career .281/.389/.398 versus RHP in MiLB).
If they end up DFAing all four of those guys at some point this offseason, then fine, maybe it was defensible to try and sneak Hassan through waivers early (waivers are in order of record by league IIRC, so no AL team with a worse record than Oakland put in a claim, but it's likely that even if Oakland didn't, one of the NL teams would have put in a claim). But if they thought any of those guys was worth protecting over Hassan, well, I disagree.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Nov 18, 2014 10:56:40 GMT -5
By the way, here's Alex Hassan versus LHP over the last few years and over his minor league career: 2014 (AAA): 143 PAs, .336/.420/.508 2013 (AAA): 79 PAs, .323/.430/.600 Career (MiLB): 474 PAs, .310/.424/.508 In my mind, there's no way that guy isn't a useful MLB role player or that you'd protect Lavarnway or Britton over him, and probably Butler/Weeks as well. Even as the short end of a platoon and with not a ton of defensive value (though note that he has the versaility to play 1B/LF/RF and is probably a better defender than Gomes), a guy who is probably at least a true-talent .260/.360/.400ish hitter versus LHP is valuable, especially since he has an option left and may still be playable versus RHP (career .281/.389/.398 versus RHP in MiLB). If they end up DFAing all four of those guys at some point this offseason, then fine, maybe it was defensible to try and sneak Hassan through waivers early (waivers are in order of record by league IIRC, so no AL team with a worse record than Oakland put in a claim, but it's likely that even if Oakland didn't, one of the NL teams would have put in a claim). But if they thought any of those guys was worth protecting over Hassan, well, I disagree. I suggested a few times last offseason that I wouldn't have minded a Carp or Nava/Hassan platoon if they were going to sign someone like Beltran or Choo instead of Napoli.
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Nov 18, 2014 11:08:10 GMT -5
I'm always fuzzy on this, but I believe they could have outrighted him. As for why he'd want to stick around, don't underestimate the effect of being in the organization that put resources into developing you versus one to whom you're just another MLFA. Not a huge thing, but it's a thing. A player can be outrighted to the minors once in his career. Since I believe Hassan has not yet been outrighted yet, I think he would have stayed in the Red Sox system had he cleared waivers. I don't believe Lavarnway or Britton have ever been outrighted either (though this is just off the top of my head and I could be wrong), so they would remain in the organization if DFAed and they clear waivers. Ditto Dan Butler and Alex Wilson. I'm not sure about Jemile Weeks. Yeah, none of the Sox guys have been removed from the 40-man before, so they can all be outrighted. I don't believe Weeks has ever been DFA. Could be wrong though. --- The thing, to me, is that I don't see what's changed with Hassan since they added him to the 40-man two offseasons ago. For those who don't remember, it was a surprise, as it was not expected that he'd have been selected in R5, but there were other RP candidates who might be - and Fields and Pressly in fact were. I know I killed the Red Sox for that one, but then Hassan went and mashed last year and it looked like they knew what they were doing. Given how Hassan hit following his brief Cup in the majors - .327/.411/.498 in 298 PAs following his demotion - I thought he may have been a useful player. But the fact that he was the only apparently healthy player not recalled in September (Herrera was hurt) seemed strange. I'll even admit we asked Alex Speier off the record if he'd heard anything about that the night we interviewed him for the podcast (he hadn't). I thought he might be dinged up or something, or it could have simply been a numbers game with so many outfielders up including Brentz and Castillo, but the fact that he was the odd man out in that situation does seem to have spoken volumes in hindsight. Personally, I don't think it's likely that Britton clears waivers (some team will think they can fix him - that arm has shown too much in the past. could be wrong though), but I could see Lavarnway clearing. I don't think Butler would clear. Unsure about Wilson - maybe he'd be up there with Lavarnway for me as next guys.
|
|
|
Post by mattpicard on Nov 18, 2014 11:20:58 GMT -5
Bummed to see him go -- I was always a big fan, hoping to see him ease into a platoon role with the Red Sox in LF. You have to be happy for him though, as, barring Craig, Victorino, and Cespedes all being shipped off (or significant injury issues), he wasn't going to get a chance in Boston in 2015. Not an "exciting" player but any means, but one who can be very useful in a part time role. With Oakland having LHH's at 1B, RF, LF, and DH, some of them with significant platoon stats, I hope to see Alex slide right in and thrive against left handed pitching. Best of luck. ADD: A player can be outrighted to the minors once in his career. Since I believe Hassan has not yet been outrighted yet, I think he would have stayed in the Red Sox system had he cleared waivers. I don't believe Lavarnway or Britton have ever been outrighted either (though this is just off the top of my head and I could be wrong), so they would remain in the organization if DFAed and they clear waivers. Ditto Dan Butler and Alex Wilson. I'm not sure about Jemile Weeks. But the fact that he was the only apparently healthy player not recalled in September (Herrera was hurt) seemed strange. I'll even admit we asked Alex Speier off the record if he'd heard anything about that the night we interviewed him for the podcast (he hadn't). I thought he might be dinged up or something, or it could have simply been a numbers game with so many outfielders up including Brentz and Castillo, but the fact that he was the odd man out in that situation does seem to have spoken volumes in hindsight. Yeah, this struck me as quite odd. Especially considering Brentz -- who'd been worse than Hassan the last two seasons, and doesn't have anywhere near as good an approach -- and Craig, who was basically begging for the offseason to arrive, played everyday over the last week or two of the season.
|
|
|
Post by Mike Andrews on Nov 18, 2014 12:50:18 GMT -5
Players can also refuse an outright and elect free agency if they have 3+ years of MLB service time, even if they have never been outrighted before.
|
|
|
Post by wcsoxfan on Nov 18, 2014 16:52:30 GMT -5
Sad to see him go - but can't say I'm surprised. He's almost 27 and Brentz is younger, a better defender and has more power with a comparable stat line last year (125 wRC to 122 wRC). As there doesn't seem to be much of a chance for Brentz outside of depth, there just wasn't any opportunity to play for Hassan.
This reminds me a bit of David Murphy (part of trade for Gagne) when he was behind Moss on the depth chart. Didn't want to get rid of him, but was glad for his sake that he was going to get a shot. For their sake, I hope Hassan/Brentz become the next Murphy/Moss - but in retrospect, the Red Sox could have gotten more out of those guys.
Great that Hassan ended up in a place that likes to platoon.
|
|
|
Post by cwaaa on Nov 18, 2014 22:48:31 GMT -5
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he got 300 big leagues at bats next year and has a similar ops to Yoenis Cespedes.
|
|
|
Post by Oregon Norm on Nov 18, 2014 22:58:07 GMT -5
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he got 300 big leagues at bats next year and has a similar ops to Yoenis Cespedes. Welcome to the site. I can easily see him being moved right onto Oakland's 25-man roster. He's exactly the kind of player they'd find a platoon role for as others have pointed out. In the right setting he could be quite productive. Oakland may be that right setting.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone2 on Nov 19, 2014 7:51:48 GMT -5
I'm always fuzzy on this, but I believe they could have outrighted him. As for why he'd want to stick around, don't underestimate the effect of being in the organization that put resources into developing you versus one to whom you're just another MLFA. Not a huge thing, but it's a thing. A player can be outrighted to the minors once in his career. Since I believe Hassan has not yet been outrighted yet, I think he would have stayed in the Red Sox system had he cleared waivers. I don't believe Lavarnway or Britton have ever been outrighted either (though this is just off the top of my head and I could be wrong), so they would remain in the organization if DFAed and they clear waivers. Ditto Dan Butler and Alex Wilson. I'm not sure about Jemile Weeks. According to Rule 55, any player who has spent all or part of 7 championship seasons on a minor league roster and is not placed on the 40 man roster is eligible for free agency. I am not sure how this applies to players who are removed from the 40 man roster after October 15, however Lavarnway, who was drafted in 2008, would be eligible under this rule, while Hassan who was drafted in 2009, would not be. I think they thought they could sneak him through waivers much like they snuck Daniel Nava through waivers, in part because he didn't have a great minor league year. One thing to keep in mind though is that the Sox have to keep as much flexibilty as possible in scarce positions like catcher and lefty relief. You can't just assume that you can find a veteran, or multiple veterans to fill those spots. You have to bring Britton into camp unless you sign two good lefty relievers which may not be possible. Keeping Butler gives the team the option of trading Vazquez and signing Soto as a one year stop gap. Butler might have to be the backup in this scenario. All and all Hassan is going to be 27 , had minimal major league experience, and was limited to the far right of the defensive spectrum. Even if you think he'll hit lefties well, that's only playing 1/3 of the time. You can't keep too many guys like that. Given the players who had passed him, including Bryce Brentz, Hassan woukd have likely sat in the minors for most of 2015 and been cut either that winter or spring.
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Nov 19, 2014 8:34:46 GMT -5
Good call on MLFA. That's why Herrera became a free agent, I believe.
|
|
|
Post by The Town Sports Cards on Nov 19, 2014 8:45:13 GMT -5
I can see the arguments for Britton, Lavarnway & Butler being worse overall players than Hassan, but which of those 3 were needed for depth? Hassan was stuck behind Cespedes, Castillo, Betts, Nava(1B and OF), Victorino, Craig(1B and OF), Napoli (1B), and was older than guys like Brentz, Cecchini, Bradley, and Shaw (honestly I see Shaw as pretty equal to Hassan, good OBP and approach with more power, lower avg).
Britton is the only other left handed bullpen option after Layne, and he needs to be held on to until depth is added. Butler is the only other catcher after Vazquez, and while there's plenty of journeyman catchers to sign to play behind Swihart in AAA, why not keep the one you spent a lot of money developing and has a relationship with so many of the MLB and AAA pitchers? And what if the catching market is nuts this offseason? I'd rather have the cheap, solid D, and potential decent bat of Dan Butler as the backup to Vazquez than some AAAA 35+ year old guy like Ross (Vazquez doesn't need mentoring THAT bad, and Varitek is still in the Org to mentor him as much as Cherington/Farrell want).
As far as Lavarnway, my guess is the only reason he was kept over Hassan is the Front Office knows something we don't. Either he has more trade value, there is still some outside chance he moves back to catcher or they have some reason to believe his offensive output will improve next year (they noticed something in his swing, change in approach, etc).
|
|
|
Post by DesignatedForAssignment on Nov 19, 2014 11:56:08 GMT -5
The MLFA free agency filing period must be over, so that sure doesn't impact anything with Lavarnway, etc. at this point. Sox could have tried to force players like Herrera, Blair, Gibson back for another year by waiting until now to put them through waivers and then outright them if they cleared. (Yeah, Blair, Gibson would have had to be added to the roster for a few weeks and then waived.)
For some reason Sox don't like to do that move and force MLFA-eligible players to stay for another year. ( EDIT: TURNS OUT THIS IS WRONG ... SEE POSTS BELOW REGARDING DEC 2ND RULE. HERRERA, BLAIR, GIBSON COULD NOT BE WAIVED UNTIL DEC 2ND. ) I think we can conclude that whatever the Sox could get for Hassan in a trade was so little that it was less than the value of trying to get him through waivers. Thy Mystery is "why not wait until 11/20 THUR" when teams have jammed their rosters full of new players and the waiver wire is full? They made it easy for Oakland.
Notice on the 40-man page, the '^' symbol. For example, Middlebrooks options are 1^, meaning he is outrightable with one option remaining. The only omissions I see are that Britton, Lavarnway & Weeks really should be 0^. www.soxprospects.com/40man.htm
I calculate that Weeks really is 1^ with one option remaining. "Athletics purchased the contract of 2B Jemile Weeks from Triple-A Sacramento." Tue, Jun 7, 2011 www.rotoworld.com/recent/mlb/5021/jemile-weeks www.fantasysp.com/player/mlb/Jemile_Weeks/1650990/athletics-purchased-the-contract-of-2b-jemile-weeks-from-triple-a
he was not Rule 5 eligible in DEC 2010, so he was not added until June 2011.
he spent the remainder of 2011 in MLB espn.go.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/30035/year/2011/jemile-weeks he was optioned in 2012 for only 19 days. he burned options in 2013 and 2014. So Weeks is 1^ going into 2015.
EDIT: it is possible the A's screwed it up and left Weeks in AAA for exactly 20 days in 2012, burning an option. He was optioned sometime on 8/21 and recalled sometime on 9/10.
|
|
alnipper
Veteran
Living the dream
Posts: 619
|
Post by alnipper on Nov 19, 2014 12:07:57 GMT -5
I am happy for Hassan. He'll get a better chance to play more in Oakland. If he had been lefthanded the Sox probably would of kept him. If I am thinking correctly he made it through most teams in MLB before Oakland picked him up. We wouldn't of used him unless it was extreme depth. I still would of released Lavarnway before him.
|
|
|
Post by jmei on Nov 19, 2014 12:09:20 GMT -5
You have to bring Britton into camp unless you sign two good lefty relievers which may not be possible. Keeping Butler gives the team the option of trading Vazquez and signing Soto as a one year stop gap. Butler might have to be the backup in this scenario. All and all Hassan is going to be 27 , had minimal major league experience, and was limited to the far right of the defensive spectrum. Even if you think he'll hit lefties well, that's only playing 1/3 of the time. You can't keep too many guys like that. Given the players who had passed him, including Bryce Brentz, Hassan woukd have likely sat in the minors for most of 2015 and been cut either that winter or spring. I disagree with the idea that you need a certain number of lefty relievers on your 40-man roster and so had to keep Britton. They have Escobar who is likely major-league ready, they'll likely make at least one major-league signing, and they'll also probably bring a couple MiLB free agents in on camp invites. That's not to mention that there are plenty of good bullpens that have gone with only one lefty, and many of their existing late-innings relievers have virtually nonexistent splits (Tazawa has reverse splits, Mujica is roughly even, etc), so I'm not sure they need to add a second lefty in the first place. Perhaps most importantly, I think there's almost zero chance that an out-of-options Britton is one of their seven best relievers at the end of Spring Training, which means you're going to have to DFA sooner or later-- would you disagree with that statement? Maybe ya'll are just more bullish on him than me, but he's 26 next year and had more walks than strikeouts last year, and I think there's basically nothing left there at this point. Fair points re: Butler, and he'd be the guy I'd be most hesitant to DFA. But there are any number of replacement-level catchers floating around as major-league or minor-league free agents, whereas guys like Hassan have real value. I'm also not confident that Brentz should have passed Hassan on the depth chart. But even if you have Brentz ahead of him, Hassan would still be the second RHH called up in case of injury to an OF/1B, and its eminently foreseeable that two RHH hitters will hit the DL at some point during the year. Now, that second guy is what, Lavarnway? [Insert MiLB FA]? There's a dropoff there. If you wanted to include LHH, I'd have Hassan ahead of Shaw but behind Cecchini and Bradley. But, again, he'd still be second or third in line to get reps with any OF/1B injuries, which is not that far. They can't keep all of Cespedes/Craig/Victorino, and it's certain at least one of those guys is gone by the end of ST. In general, I think it makes no sense to discard MLB-caliber talent with options left, even if there are plenty of guys ahead of him. You just never know when you'll have to call on that depth, and even if you think he won't get a chance in Boston, you probably could have gotten a bullpen arm or something in a spare parts exchange from somebody.
|
|
|
Post by dirtywater on Nov 19, 2014 12:22:47 GMT -5
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he got 300 big leagues at bats next year and has a similar ops to Yoenis Cespedes. Welcome to the site. I can easily see him being moved right onto Oakland's 25-man roster. He's exactly the kind of player they'd find a platoon role for as others have pointed out. In the right setting he could be quite productive. Oakland may be that right setting. The A's signing of Billy Butler muddles that picture a bit.
|
|
|
Post by dmaineah on Nov 19, 2014 12:24:12 GMT -5
In general, I think it makes no sense to discard MLB-caliber talent with options left, even if there are plenty of guys ahead of him. You just never know when you'll have to call on that depth, and even if you think he won't get a chance in Boston, you probably could have gotten a bullpen arm or something in a spare parts exchange from somebody. I agree. I think they should of waived someone with no options left like Lavarnway or Britton. Weeks would of been my first choice if he has zero options left.
|
|
|
Post by DesignatedForAssignment on Nov 19, 2014 13:06:13 GMT -5
I am happy for Hassan. He'll get a better chance to play more in Oakland. If he had been lefthanded the Sox probably would of kept him. If I am thinking correctly he made it through most teams in MLB before Oakland picked him up. We wouldn't of used him unless it was extreme depth. I still would of released Lavarnway before him. Hassan made it thru most of the AL teams. Because of Hassan's age, HOUS would have no interest, as they prefer their own younger players. The NL teams would get a shot if Hassan made it thru the AL on waivers. (AL first, worst to best. Then NL, worst to best.) The timing of this certainly is baffling. At age 27, it is time for Hassan to get a shot to hit MLB pitching, which he won't get in the BOS crowded OF. Why not wait until 11/20 or later ... when the rosters are more crowded?
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Nov 19, 2014 13:38:57 GMT -5
Regarding Weeks, Baseball America reported that he had one option remaining when he was traded to Baltimore last offseason: www.baseballamerica.com/majors/trade-central-orioles-ship-closer-jim-johnson-to-athletics/That's the basis of us having him down as being without options. But FWIW, we had an internal debate about how many options he has left when he was acquired, so it's not an easy question. Could be that BA is wrong, but we're not inclined to disagree on that. On the timing, they apparently thought he'd sneak through. Just because other teams' rosters fill up tomorrow doesn't mean they couldn't claim him and DFA someone else. Look at 2012 - David Carpenter was claimed off waivers when he'd been waived on the 20th, and the Sox traded three more guys (Stewart, Valencia, Rosario) who apparently would also have been claimed. Maybe the hope was to catch everyone sleeping. (Not saying I agree with that, but rather that the timing really isn't as big of a deal as it might seem.)
|
|
|
Post by The Town Sports Cards on Nov 19, 2014 14:19:27 GMT -5
I disagree with the idea that you need a certain number of lefty relievers on your 40-man roster and so had to keep Britton. They have Escobar who is likely major-league ready, they'll likely make at least one major-league signing, and they'll also probably bring a couple MiLB free agents in on camp invites. That's not to mention that there are plenty of good bullpens that have gone with only one lefty, and many of their existing late-innings relievers have virtually nonexistent splits (Tazawa has reverse splits, Mujica is roughly even, etc), so I'm not sure they need to add a second lefty in the first place. Perhaps most importantly, I think there's almost zero chance that an out-of-options Britton is one of their seven best relievers at the end of Spring Training, which means you're going to have to DFA sooner or later-- would you disagree with that statement? Maybe ya'll are just more bullish on him than me, but he's 26 next year and had more walks than strikeouts last year, and I think there's basically nothing left there at this point. Fair points re: Butler, and he'd be the guy I'd be most hesitant to DFA. But there are any number of replacement-level catchers floating around as major-league or minor-league free agents, whereas guys like Hassan have real value. I'm also not confident that Brentz should have passed Hassan on the depth chart. But even if you have Brentz ahead of him, Hassan would still be the second RHH called up in case of injury to an OF/1B, and its eminently foreseeable that two RHH hitters will hit the DL at some point during the year. Now, that second guy is what, Lavarnway? [Insert MiLB FA]? There's a dropoff there. If you wanted to include LHH, I'd have Hassan ahead of Shaw but behind Cecchini and Bradley. But, again, he'd still be second or third in line to get reps with any OF/1B injuries, which is not that far. They can't keep all of Cespedes/Craig/Victorino, and it's certain at least one of those guys is gone by the end of ST. In general, I think it makes no sense to discard MLB-caliber talent with options left, even if there are plenty of guys ahead of him. You just never know when you'll have to call on that depth, and even if you think he won't get a chance in Boston, you probably could have gotten a bullpen arm or something in a spare parts exchange from somebody. I see your point about not "needing" a certain amount of lefties in the pen, but lefty arms are at least perceived as more valuable league wide. I also think there is zero chance Drake Britton passes through waivers. There was at least a chance that a 27 yr old corner Outfielder with an unproven MLB track record gets through waivers. No way a 25-26 yr old lefty arm that can hit the low-to-mid 90's makes it through. Someone will take a chance on adding him to their MLB bullpen. And while Drake definitely struggled in AAA all year, he did pich 6.2 scoreless innings to end the year in teh majors, so my guess is that someone in the Front Office or Coaching staff thinks that Britton "figured it out" and has an decent shot at the bullpen in 2015. And as far as DFA'ing Drake in the spring if he isn't good enough, when do teams have more open slots on their 40 man? Mid November? Or Late March? Any player has a better chance of passing through waivers after Spring Training rather than early in the offseason.
|
|
|
Post by rjp313jr on Nov 19, 2014 14:21:25 GMT -5
I guess I'm just confused what Lavarnaway is still doing on this roster?
|
|
|
Post by moonstone2 on Nov 19, 2014 16:47:34 GMT -5
Good call on MLFA. That's why Herrera became a free agent, I believe. Right he had parts of 10 minor leagues seasons under his belt. My reading of the rule is that if an unsigned player who would qualify under Rule 55 is not tendered a major league contract by 11:59 PM on December 2nd, they become a free agent. To be tendered a major league contract you must be on the 40 man roster. This of course would only apply to players who would otherwise be eligible for Rule 55 free agency but were sent outright to the minors between October 15 and December 2nd and had not previously been outrighted. Players who are tendered a major league contract but sent outright to the minors for the first time cannot be free agents. Hence if Weeks or Lavarnway were to clear waivers and sent outright to the minors they would become free agents on December 2nd. Hassan however could have been tendered a minor league contract because he did not qualify under Rule 55 and had not previously been outrighted. At this time of year, keeping as players in your organization as you possibly can is a consideration. So it matters that waiving Lavarnway or Weeks would have resulted in their free agency. I think they reasonably thought that they had a chance to get Hassan through which would have meant keeping their rights to him for at least another year, and they did get him through 1/3 of the league.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone2 on Nov 19, 2014 17:10:53 GMT -5
The problem right now is that the Red Sox don't have any quality left handed relief pitchers.
Putting Escobar in the major league bullpen is a non-starter for me. Escobar currently has trouble with righties, but has a pitch to get them out. He just has to work on improving that pitch and the only way he can do that is by being in the rotation at AAA. That chance that he becomes a major league starter isn't worth giving up to keep a 27 year old left fielder who would likely play only 1/3 of the time.
But more over you can't just assume that they Sox will be able to sign a quality major league left handed relief free agent or that they can just fill the position with an NRI. If they are able to do so, I have no doubt that either Layne or Britton would be designated. I'm all for going into camp with two left handed relievers on the 40 man especially if one of them is a quality veteran. But I don't think I would be comfortable going into camp with just Tommy Layne to fall back on, and if you release Britton you are taking a chance that that will happen or you'll be forced into overpaying a crappy veteran left handed reliever.
|
|
|
Post by moonstone2 on Nov 19, 2014 18:58:46 GMT -5
I did some research on this and as it turns out, you can't do this. According to Major League Rule 55(f), you cannot assign a player outright to the minors who would otherwise be MLFA eligible until they either sign a major league contract for the succeeding year, or letter of intent to do so. I would imagine that Britton, Lavarnway, Franscisco and Weeks have not yet signed their major league contracts so until they do, they cannot be assigned to the minors. If these players were to clear waivers, the Red Sox would have to grant them their release. www.bizofbaseball.com/docs/MajorLeagueRules-2008.pdf
|
|
|
Post by DesignatedForAssignment on Nov 19, 2014 19:05:31 GMT -5
Right he had parts of 10 minor leagues seasons under his belt. My reading of the rule is that if an unsigned player who would qualify under Rule 55 is not tendered a major league contract by 11:59 PM on December 2nd, they become a free agent. To be tendered a major league contract you must be on the 40 man roster. Hence if Weeks or Lavarnway were to clear waivers and sent outright to the minors they would become free agents on December 2nd. Hassan however could have been tendered a minor league contract because he did not qualify under Rule 55 and had not previously been outrighted.
That DEC 2nd rule is a great find. It means that Gibson, Blair, Herrera were unavoidably lost ... if the Sox dragged them out to Nov 20 and waived them ... they would still be eligible for free agency due to their 7 years in professional ball. Needing to keep them to Dec 2nd .... makes it impossible as they need to add Rule 5 players in NOV. MLB has set it up to block such maneuvers.
Any such players cannot be waived and outrighted until after Dec 2nd. Lavarnway, etc.
(The Draft is December 11th, 2014.)
|
|
|