Victor Martinez Headed to Beantown

There are a number of rules that steer players towards free agency/payday

1) From Draft/Signing to 40 man/MiLB Free Agency – From the time you are drafted you have a limited number of years (different depending whether you came from college/juco, high school or international signing) to be added to the 40 man roster OR you will become available for other team to select in the Rule 5 draft. You also have a set amount of years (again differing based on where you were drafted out of) before you become a minor league free agent – assuming you never get added to the 40 man. Most legit prospects get added to the 40 man rather than made vulnerable to the Rule 5 draft.

2) 40 man to out of options - From the time youre placed on the 40 man, as we discussed above, you have 3 option years. An option is “burned” in any YEAR youre sent down on “optional assignment.” This can be during spring training or even not until September. Once a team has used an option on you you can be sent down a limitless amount of times during that option year. You dont use a new option every time youre sent down – “Options” refer to years, not each time you get sent to the minors. So, again, from the time the team decides to protect your rights by placing you on the 40 man you may only be sent to the minors in 3 years. This is an over simplified explanation, of course, and in some cases certain guys have a 4th option year. This commonly occurs when a guy is optioned down three times in the spring and never actually appears in the majors during that time. I cant remember who, but a Sox minor league catcher had this occur recently IIRC.

3) Out of options/Playing in MLB to free agency - The last major driving force is that once youre out of options a team has to either make room for you (Like our buddy Kottaras) or expose you to waivers. After 5 years (simplified again – there are exceptions and convolutions to a lot of this) you can refuse assignment to the minors and opt for free agency if you arent claimed on waivers. The driving force here is economics. Your first three seasons of MLB service time you are paid near the minimum (Not year or option years here – actual service time on the MLB roster! I know its hard to wrap your head around…). If you make much more than the minimum its b/c your GM is in a nice mood or loves you, as they can renew your contract at will and raises are basically at the team’s discretion to keep you happy. By raises I mean from the minimum to half a mil or something. No one gets much. Year 4 (after youve completed 3 years of MLB service time) is your first year of arbitration. Again, there is an excepetion – the top X percentage of guys with 2 years of service time are called “Super Twos” and get limited arbitration like other 4th year players. The 5th and 6th years get very expensive as you get full arbitration and your salary is scaled to what similarly performing free agents receive (yet again, simple version here).

Youre a Red Sox fan… and that means you’re better than other fans. Its your duty to know this stuff! Learn it. Live it. Love it.