![]() That wasn’t always the case last year, with those nine trips back and forth to Triple-A. The only saving grace to his 2019, if any, is that while on the 60-day injured list he’ll accrue a full year of major league service time, and major league pay. Silvino Bracho was optioned nine different times by the Diamondbacks in 2018 - believe it or not, that didn’t even lead baseball Eduardo Paredes of the Angels did the up-and-down 11 times - but this year has been out with Tommy John surgery. Literally the only thing you can do is pitch well, that’s it.” “There have been times when I’ve been passing him getting off the flight at the airport, and vice versa. “We’ve never spoken about it out loud,” Venditte said last year of his and Stewart’s constant travel. He saw a lot of fellow pitcher Pat Venditte, who was also optioned seven times last year. Stewart was optioned seven different times in 2018. In a seven-day stretch in May 2018 he was called up to the majors twice and sent back to the minors twice more, an odyssey that took him from Oklahoma City to Monterrey, Mexico to Oklahoma City to Los Angeles to Colorado Springs, all in one week. He’s used it nine times.īrock Stewart, now with the Blue Jays, spent 16 different stints in the majors with the Dodgers in a two-year span from 2016-18. ![]() So instead of being out of options this season, he had one more year remaining on the express back and forth between the majors and minors. Sadler, who was optioned in both 20, was also sent to the minors in 2018, but only for a total of 16 days. ![]() The minor league season is 153 days long, so each day at the minimum salary is about $590, roughly one-fifth of major league money.Īnother caveat is that a player must accrue at least 20 days on assignment to exhaust an option year. For those on a 40-man roster, the minimum while in the minors is $90,400. This is pro-rated over a 187-day season, so each day in the big show earns a player just shy of $3,000. When a player is optioned to the minors he must spend at least 10 days there before he can return to the majors, unless replacing an injured player.īaseball’s collective bargaining agreement calls for a minimum salary of $555,000 while in the majors. Players generally have three option years - in some rare cases, a player qualifies for a fourth - but within each of those years a player can be optioned an unlimited number of times. “It makes the good games better, and the bad games not so bad.” I know it’s hard on her, but it’s something she does because she wants our family to be together as much as we can, and I’m extremely appreciative of that,” Sadler said. “I enjoyed the time with my family, to be honest with you,” he said.įamily is important to Sadler, whose wife and young daughter have followed him to various Triple-A ballparks the last few years, living in an RV in-season. Sadler found the positive side of his time in limbo. Sadler’s wait lasted four days, until he was traded to the Dodgers. While in roster limbo, the player is essentially a man without a team, unable to work out at a team facility for up to a week while he is placed on waivers. The Rays designated Sadler for assignment on June 29, a process that removes a player from the 40-man roster. Sadler has been sent to the minors nine different times this season, but hasn’t let the constant upheaval affect his season, posting a 1.42 ERA in 31⅔ major league innings, plus a 3.26 ERA in 38⅔ innings in Triple-A. “Lots of packing and unpacking, but it’s alright. “It is definitely a hard transition back and forth between the majors and minor leagues,” said pitcher Casey Sadler. It’s created a class of relief pitchers increasingly familiar with frequent flyer miles, veterans of the up-and-down back-and-forth between the majors and minors. Heavy reliance on relief pitchers lends itself to roster churn, a near-constant replenishing of bullpen arms. Watch any major league game these days, and you’ll probably see both managers make several trips out to the mound to make a pitching change.
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