If I want to demote a ML player with no options left, what’s the process? Waive and then pick up as a FA when he clears waivers?

Designate for assignment with waivers. If he clears waivers he will still belong to you and you can assign him to the minor leagues. This is different from releasing him.

how is designate for assignment with waivers different from just placing on waivers?

With designating, the players are immediately removed from the 40-man and your roster. It's used when a guy is out of options and you need to open up a spot immediately.

Posted by dschang on 2/28/2019 7:55:00 AM (view original):
how is designate for assignment with waivers different from just placing on waivers?

Yeah, I think this is something all owners need to be very clear about.

Waivers - the player remains on whatever roster he's on till he clears waivers or is claimed. He's exposed to the rest of the league. If he's claimed, the new team takes over the rest of his contract. If he clears waivers he can be removed from the 40-man roster, or if he's a major league player with no options left, he can be demoted.

Designate - the player is immediately removed from your 40. You have 30 HBD days to trade, release, or waive him. Waiver process is the same. Note that you do NOT have to designate to waive. Designate is most often used when you need the 40-man spot immediately.

Release - you immediately let the player go to free agency but his contract remains on your books for its entire duration. Any team which picks him up gets him for a prorated portion of his level's minimum salary.

Other conditions - if a player has more than 3 yrs MLB service time or has been previously outrighted (waived and demoted to minors) he can refuse demotion and choose free agency. And if a player has more than 5 yrs MLB service time he can refuse demotion and removal from the 40. You have to either keep or release him.

Posted by damag on 2/28/2019 8:27:00 AM (view original):

Posted by dschang on 2/28/2019 7:55:00 AM (view original):
how is designate for assignment with waivers different from just placing on waivers?

Yeah, I think this is something all owners need to be very clear about.

Waivers - the player remains on whatever roster he's on till he clears waivers or is claimed. He's exposed to the rest of the league. If he's claimed, the new team takes over the rest of his contract. If he clears waivers he can be removed from the 40-man roster, or if he's a major league player with no options left, he can be demoted.

Designate - the player is immediately removed from your 40. You have 30 HBD days to trade, release, or waive him. Waiver process is the same. Note that you do NOT have to designate to waive. Designate is most often used when you need the 40-man spot immediately.

Release - you immediately let the player go to free agency but his contract remains on your books for its entire duration. Any team which picks him up gets him for a prorated portion of his level's minimum salary.

Other conditions - if a player has more than 3 yrs MLB service time or has been previously outrighted (waived and demoted to minors) he can refuse demotion and choose free agency. And if a player has more than 5 yrs MLB service time he can refuse demotion and removal from the 40. You have to either keep or release him.

Shoot. I just wanted to quote part of this.

You can release a player who is being ARB'ed and it won't cost you anything because he technically doesn't have a contract. But you won't get any compensation picks for the player when he is picked up regardless of how good he is. This is helpful if you have a decent player as a stop gap but you have someone better coming up. Or if I a player is a good filler but isn't worth the $5.5 million for arb $5 million long term he is asking for.

Oh yeah, completely independent of arb. A player due for arbitration has no contract but you hold his rights. By releasing him you are simply giving up his rights.

I learned a lot in those few posts. Thanks.
What if you sign a free agent and do not assign him (forget) in the allotted time? I did this with low ranked International Free agents.

They will automatically be released.

That's also 30 HBD / 10 real life days.

Am I missing something or has Shane Harper really under performed in his career? He doesn't have any great pitches but 4 of his five are good. His VsR isn't stellar but again, is serviceable. Every time I look at his ratings I don't see any glaring weaknesses but yet he consistently seems to be closer to 4 in the ERA category every year rather then 3.

Posted by hockey1984 on 3/4/2019 1:25:00 PM (view original):
Am I missing something or has Shane Harper really under performed in his career? He doesn't have any great pitches but 4 of his five are good. His VsR isn't stellar but again, is serviceable. Every time I look at his ratings I don't see any glaring weaknesses but yet he consistently seems to be closer to 4 in the ERA category every year rather then 3.

I think he might make a good case for what kind of a difference six to eight points in pitch rating could make. If he was 80-70-70-60 I think he'd be a much different guy.

He's a career 3.38 ERA. I think his career numbers are what you would expect, probably slightly better. Just bad luck on your part. I guess he has too many off the field distractions in San Diego.

He hasn't pitched well in SD; his career ERA is terrific given the parks he's pitched in. In SD it's a combination of small sample size, and your catcher with a PC of 46.

I'll accept SSS and bad luck, but if you look at my other pitchers since I've had Alicia behind the plate, Harper is the outlier (I'd personally be ok if he pitched around his career average, its what I'd expect). My thoughts, and what has rung true for me since I've been in SD (30+ seasons) is that I go heavy on offence with my catchers as the park (-3,-3,3,-3,-3) makes up for low PC. I know Harper typically won't be pitching much when Jose (backup catcher) comes in so he won't benefit from those numbers but I could see that difference being 0.3 to 0.5 points of ERA over a season, not 0.8 to1.1 like he is currently experiencing.