I wanted to share this great insight by Adam Rubin who posted the following on his blog at ESPN New York in response to a reader’s question on why so many players were cut from major league camp yesterday.
Assistant GM John Ricco explained that any player on the 40-man roster who is still in major league camp on March 20 cannot be optioned to the minors if they are injured and unable to perform — regardless of when the injury actually occurred.
If the player does not heal by Opening Day, he has to go on the major league DL. That means major league service time and major league salary are accumulated.
So, say, Jeurys Familia or Kirk Nieuwenhuis were to be injured in a Grapefruit League game the final two weeks of camp, he would have to land on the major league DL. That’s a major reason why, say, you will not see Familia or Nieuwenhuis in a Grapefruit League after March 19, but you very well could see non-40-man roster guys such as Matt Harvey or Matt den Dekker return as a borrowed player from the minor league side.
This explains a lot…
You learn something new everyday.
