John Ricco, Assistant GM of the Mets (as opposed to assistant to the GM) explains Thursday’s cuts:
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Assistant GM John Ricco said “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.”
As a result, if the player does not heal by the time the regular season begins, he must go on the Major League disabled list, and service time will begin to accumulate.
So if someone is competing for a job, the chance of an injury, rather than his performance, might send him to the minors? I’m sure there’s a good reason for this rule, but I wonder what triggered its inclusion?
I think players with options probably make less if they are in the minors than in the majors (at least MLB minimum). So teams must have been sending players down to the minors when they were injured, and then placed on the DL, to save a few bucks, even though they would have made the 25 man roster if healthy.