Spring Training and Option Years

[mikev]

So a question came up in one of my leagues, and I'm pretty sure I know how it works but I thought I'd confirm the way it goes in 2006.

In Spring Training rosters are still at the expanded 40 and not 25. When ST is over, if I have guys that I'm not going to keep on the active roster, will an option year be used up by putting them back into the minor leagues?

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by mikev

In Spring Training rosters are still at the expanded 40 and not 25. When ST is over, if I have guys that I'm not going to keep on the active roster, will an option year be used up by putting them back into the minor leagues?

It sounds like it from these game guide quotes:

[page 315] During Spring Training, the active roster limit is removed, and any players on a team’s secondary roster can be moved onto the active roster without recording major league service time. Before Opening Day, you must reduce the number of players on your active roster back to 25 (or whatever the active roster limit is in your league).

[page 311] When Spring Training begins and players report to camp, options haven’t been used yet. Generally, every player on that secondary roster is in major league camp for the beginning of Spring Training. It’s basically an open invitation—all those players, in the opinion of the scouts and management, have some shot of ending Spring Training on the active roster. As camp moves on, players get cut and reassigned. With a player who is on the secondary roster, he gets optioned to the minor league camp. Only then does that player use an option year.

That second quote goes on to say "So, if a team used its first option year on a player the previous season, but the player made the opening day active roster this season, he would still have two option years remaining, because he has not been optioned to the minors this season." By this I take it to conversely mean that if a secondary roster player is invited to ST, he goes on the active roster at that time and if he does not make the team after ST, he needs to be optioned to the minors.

[JTSMOOTH]

In Spring Training rosters are still at the expanded 40 and not 25. When ST is over, if I have guys that I'm not going to keep on the active roster, will an option year be used up by putting them back into the minor leagues?

Correct...So if you have players on your 40 man roster that do not make the big league 25 man roster, they should have to be placed on waivers before being allowed to play at the minor league level...

Though I don't believe the game currently functions correctly in this manor. In my experiences, the game will allow you to keep a player at the minor league level, despite being out of options so long as you dont bring him to the big league level.