Posted by Crump123 on 2/28/2012 6:23:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tufft on 2/28/2012 4:49:00 PM (view original):
Is there an MLB rule that limits the number of times a player with options can be promoted/demoted in a single season?   I'm pretty sure there is not.

This tread has me wondering why no MLB teams keep 1 less SP & 1 extra position player on their roster & promote/demote 2 SPs as need all season. Seems like that would be allowed.  Players would be paid the same, so I don't see why they'd care. It would effectively be one more player in the ML, so I don't see why the union would have a problem with it.

Anybody know more this than I do?

Not really, but i recall Hendry did something similar with the Cubs at one point in the last few seasons, promoting guys to pitch in relief, sending them down and calling someone else up to do the same on a kind of rotation for a while.

And Hendry is no longer the GM. He's a wacko.

Posted by gjello10 on 2/28/2012 7:15:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tufft on 2/28/2012 4:49:00 PM (view original):
Is there an MLB rule that limits the number of times a player with options can be promoted/demoted in a single season?   I'm pretty sure there is not.

This tread has me wondering why no MLB teams keep 1 less SP & 1 extra position player on their roster & promote/demote 2 SPs as need all season. Seems like that would be allowed.  Players would be paid the same, so I don't see why they'd care. It would effectively be one more player in the ML, so I don't see why the union would have a problem with it.

Anybody know more this than I do?

When a player on the ML roster is asigned to the minors, he must stay down for 10 days before he can come back to the majors.  This is true in HBD and real life.  Thus, you can't just demote your SP between starts.

Yes

mkieffer -

I didn't know that.  Thanks.

But 10 days would be exactly how long you'd need if you had a 5-man rotation & were swapping your #5 SP back & forth between the ML/MinL. I'm including that more times than not there's an off day for every team ever week in MLB.

As for logistics, you wouldn't have to put them on a plane for the AAA club for the 10 days.  Flying every 9-10 days is part of being a ball player.  I don't see it as a huge burden. But just as easy to work them out with the ML club by throwing a simulated game during batting practice.

How about roster expansion in September? Do prospects take a hit if you bring them up in September, but they start next season in AAA?  How do you do the promote/demote to prevent a penalty from occurring then?

Demote them after the regular season ends.

Bouncing players back and forth every 10 days in MLB doesn't happen because it makes no sense.   People, athletes maybe even moreso, are creatures of habit.   Wake up at 11, go to park, take BP at 3, hang out in clubhouse til 6, take the field, game at 7.    No different that you getting up at 6 to be at work at 8, leaving at 5, dinner at 6, bedtime at 11.   Some have speculated that the Cubs haven't done themselves any favors by continuing the day game tradition at home.  Most road games will be at night.   It takes a few days to re-acclimate to the new schedule when traveling to/from Chicago.

Posted by jryager on 2/29/2012 12:32:00 AM (view original):
How about roster expansion in September? Do prospects take a hit if you bring them up in September, but they start next season in AAA?  How do you do the promote/demote to prevent a penalty from occurring then?

It seems demotion penalties are rare after the ML regular season ends & while the playoffs are running.

They are also rarer, but less rare, at the start of a season.

I once forgot to demote someone I called up in Sept as a backup C and didn't demote him until after ST started.  Big demotion hit.  Pretty much took him from competent backup C to career MinL'er.  

That's my my best single example of how silly the current demotion penalty logic is. If I had demoted him 24 hours earlier, almost no chance he would have taken a hit.

Yeah, I remember getting a demotion penalty for the same reason, so I stopped expanding my roster.  But I think I wanted until the world rolled over.  I'll try it this season and demote them as soon as the regular season ends.  Should be easy to remember, because I won't have anything else to do in the playoffs. :-/

You can also demote them BEFORE ST starts but you'll have to pay them a BL salary.