Keston Hiura was claimed on Waivers, played in MLB, then DFA, now playing in AAA, what happens next?

[showbusiness77]

Will my player Keston Hiura be lost at the end of the season to FREE AGENCY? Or will I have an opportunity to sign him via arbitration?

His status is a bit confusing to me. Here is his contract page. PLEASE HELP! I don't really trust this contract page based on what I've done with him so far:

I claimed him off waivers.
I added him to my 40-man roster
I played him in MLB for awhile (24 games)
I placed him on irrevocable waivers (I believe)

Yes on 6/9/2023 I have this listing in Transactions Log
"2B Keston Hiura was designated for assignment and placed on waivers"

Then on 6/16/2023
Assigned 2B Keston Hiura to AAA Scranton WB

Then he played for my triple AAA team for 18 games.

So now here we are:
His contract page still says "Arbitration eligible in offseason"
and "has Major league contract"

But will that ARB eligibility go away since I DFA'd him?
I am asking because I actually have plans to either trade him before the day is up, or possibly use him on my MLB team going forward.


Thanks,
Darrell

[MikeS369]

I could be completely wrong but I believe since he has 3 years of MLB service time he is arbitration eligible after the season. I don't think waiving him and DFA'ing him changes that.

[showbusiness77]

Thanks for the response MikeS369, anyone else have a comment?

[Sweed]

Since you DFA'd him and he has been removed from the 40 man then it becomes an interesting topic. I'm not totally sure how it plays out, though I'm sure I've been through it at some time and just can't recall.

One thing to keep in mind is arbitration comes before FA in the off season. You also get your list of arb eligible players well before the arbitration hearing day. If he's not on the list you have your answer. If not and you want to keep him, I think, he'd have to go back on the 40 man to make him arb eligible.

If he's on the list but, not on the 40 man, you can make your offer but I'm not sure how that plays out? I have trouble thinking you can sign him through arbitration without him having to go to the 40 man? Maybe he'd go to the DFA list and await assignment? IOW the game won't let you do anything with him (same as an incoming player from trade with a full 40 man) until he's back on the 40 man since he has a MLB contract. So, you'd have him under contract but still have to decide if you have a 40 man spot for him and if not have to trade or run him through waivers.

In any case I go back to Arb is before FA and that should give you a window of time to figure out how to handle the situation. Maybe??

[kidd_05_u2]

I'm 99% certain the player will be arbitration eligible. If a player on an MLB contract is taken out of the 40-man roster, he only becomes a free agent if he is eligible for minor league free agency.

[Rain King]

He currently has a major league contract...even if he isn't on the major league (40-man) roster.

So, in real life, you would need add him back to your 40-man if signing him to a new arbitration contract. Otherwise, would need to non-tender him and he becomes a free agent.

I'm not sure how the game will handle it, though. It might let you sign the new arb contract without adding him to the 40-man...not sure.

Let us know what happens!

[billyray1984]

Originally Posted by kidd_05_u2

I'm 99% certain the player will be arbitration eligible. If a player on an MLB contract is taken out of the 40-man roster, he only becomes a free agent if he is eligible for minor league free agency.

I'm also 99% sure this is the right answer.

Now if the OP plans to use this player on the major league roster next year, he will have to add him to the 40 man anyway. This will also protect him from the Rule 5 draft. I would wait until next year though to add him since he has cleared waivers for this year and doesn't need to clear them again this year unless he is called up.

Trading him this season would probably only return marginal players like him or worse (salary dumps, etc.) since he has cleared waivers.

[TuckerDuckson]

Kid is correct. He has a major league contract, that by accepting the assignment to Triple-AAA he is retaining that contract, along with his service time means Keston is eligible to be tendered a major league contract through the arbitration process, despite not being on the 40 man roster.

This happens all the time. I have some guys who are like 28 year old backup middle infielders I keep for organizational depth but I have called up or signed in free agency to the 40 man roster. They spend a few years with me until their option years get burned, they get shuffled around, they eventually at some point (usually at the end of spring training if they're out of options) get waived by me, and are kept in the minors, without even playing an MLB game, for the entire season. With this, usually with three years of options, most guys for me get around 2-3 years, if they're a solid backup, but usually they're not worth keeping after they've exhausted their option years.

Despite this, even though they did not play in an MLB game, aren't on the 40 man roster, and are in my minors (originally, again on an MLB contract that I waived them on), they still go through arbitration.

This differs from if you say signed a guy to a minor league deal, (say he has 3 years of service) and despite him having enough service time he will be eligible for minor league free agency, rather than arbitration, granted that he never had his minors contract selected, or purchased by the MLB club.

[ChrisJNelson]

Definitely will show up in your arbitration guys in offseason. 100%.