Archive for Out of Options

On Monday night, MLB Trade Rumors dropped their annual “Out Of Options” post rounding up all the players who can’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. Teams will often go out of their way to keep their “assets” even if it means deploying a slightly inefficient Opening Day lineup. After all, depth is at least as important as quality (ask the 2019-2020 Yankees).

Consider this, the Rays have a first base prospect you may know by the name of Nate Lowe. He’ll likely spend most of 2020 in Triple-A while Ji-Man Choi and Jose Martinez handle a goodly chunk of the first base reps. If Lowe were out of options, the Rays probably would have non-tendered Choi. Or they’d trade him in the next couple weeks. They’d do something to make room for Lowe. Because Lowe has options, it’s Choi who benefits.

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It’s time to empty my notes and start clean for the new year. A “Mining the News” almost came out before the holiday break, so some notes are dated but still applicable.

• Nomar Mazara owners shouldn’t be counting on fulltime at-bats from him next season since he’ll likely be on the strong side of a platoon.

In 574 plate appearances against southpaws, Mazara features a below pedestrian line of .231/.272/.361 to go with 15 homers, 19 double and 68 RBIs. Manager Rick Renteria expressed hope in getting Mazara going against left-handers, but as it stands now, Mazara could get the bulk of playing time vs. righties with someone such as switching-hitting Leury García facing lefties.

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Jason mentioned this idea on Sunday’s pod so I went ahead and put it together. It’s a list of all the players on 40-man rosters who are out of options and thus could have the inside track on roster spots if they’re directly competing with someone who does have an option left. He mentioned that he uses this info to identify some options for AL/NL Only leagues where playing time is king. Hat tip to Justin for the title of this piece!

I didn’t pick and choose who to mention so you’ll see some guys who are obviously not in grave danger of even being sent down at any point. Instead, I’m just listing all the 40-man players with a “0” in the options column on Roster Resource. These guys could be dealt to or picked up by teams where their playing time gets a boost.

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