Vesting Options and Playoff rosters

[bosunmate]

Could someone explain to this old guy what vesting option means and also what exactly are playoff rosters...thanks in advance....

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by bosunmate

Could someone explain to this old guy what vesting option means and also what exactly are playoff rosters...thanks in advance....

A vesting clause in the player's contract is a clause that is earned by reaching defined milestones. The payoff may be a cash bonus, an increase in base pay, guaranteeing an existing contract or option year, etc.

Playoff rosters must be set on August 31. Twenty-five players are put on the playoff eligible list, not including disabled players. For every player on the sixty-day disabled list, teams may add players to the eligible list during the playoffs at the same position, provided that those players were in the organization on August 31. Each team chooses a twenty-five man roster from their playoff eligible list before each round of the playoffs.

[sdctitans]

A vesting option is one where the contract becomes official if a player reaches a goal. (Example: with 500 AB's the contracts vests. Player gets 529 AB's, the contract vests.) It's kind of like performance bonuses but instead of a small bonus the option year is automatically picked up.

[bosunmate]

TO wolf and sdctitans thankyou for your quick replys, i can see where both will be nice additions especially the expanded playoff roster's.

[thulean]

A real life example: Francisco Rodriguez of the Mets has a vesting option for 2012 at 17.5 million.

The 2012 option becomes guaranteed with:

55 games finished in 2011, and
100 games finished in 2010-11, and
doctors declare Rodriguez healthy after 2011

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Playoff rosters must be set on August 31. Twenty-five players are put on the playoff eligible list, not including disabled players. For every player on the sixty-day disabled list, teams may add players to the eligible list during the playoffs at the same position, provided that those players were in the organization on August 31. Each team chooses a twenty-five man roster from their playoff eligible list before each round of the playoffs.

Close, but not quite the current rules.

All players on the active roster and 15-day DL as of August 31st, and who remain with the club through to the end of the regular season, are eligible for the playoffs. Players on the 60-day DL as of Aug. 31st are also playoffs eligible provided they were placed on the 60-day DL no later than Aug. 1st (players transferred to the 60-day DL from the 15-day DL after Aug. 1st are exempted). Any player on the 60-day DL must have served at least 60 days on the DL before he is able to actually play in a post-season series.

If a player named to the 25-man active roster for a playoff series is at that time injured and unable to play, he can be replaced by another player. That replacement can be any player from the club's minor league organization, provided that player was in the organization on Aug. 31st and remained with it through to the end of the regular season. The player need not be on the 40-man roster at the time he is named a replacement, but would need to be added to it in order to play in the series. (Up until 2007, I think it was, this replacement carried a pitcher-for-pitcher and position player-for-position player restriction. That limitation has been dropped.)

Players injured during a post-season series can also be replaced (up until 2007, I think it was, players injured during a series could not be replaced). The rules regarding who is eligible to be a replacement are the same as for those players injured and unable to play before the start of a series. The difference is that any replacement made during a series must be done on a pitcher-for-pitcher and position player-for-position basis. Also, a player injured during a series is ineligible to play in the remainder of that post-season series and all of the next, even if he is later healthy and able to play.

Those interested can find the complete 2008 Major League Rules in the Documents section of the Biz of Baseball web site. (Post-season eligibility is covered in Rule 40.)