"The Business of Baseball-The Rule 5 Draft"

          After three complete minor league seasos,, a major league team must decide if they want to keep a particular player or not. If their decision is to keep a specified player, they must sign the player to a major
league contract.  In so doing, the assign the player to the teams 40 man roster. 

          If a player is not placed on the 40 man roster, he is then eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Another organization
can draft the player for $50,000.  There is a risk involved in the Rule 5 draft:  If the drafted player is not kept on the
active 25 man roster for the entire next season, he must be offered back to the original team for $25,000.

          A player not on the 40 man roster and not taken in the Rule 5 draft remains under contract with the team
he is currently assigned to.  He can elect to take minor league free agency instead of going in the Rule 5
draft, but players want to be selected in the draft because it represents what could be a fast track to the majors,
leaving a team that believes the player should not be included on the 40 man roster. 

This concludes my blog on "The Business of Baseball. It is my sincere hope that you have enjoyed what I have written over these past several weeks, and has given some helpful insights on "This Business of Baseball."

This blog is prepared by a paralegal student as a class project, without compensation.  The content of this
blog contains my opinion, and is offered for personal interest without warranty of any kind.  Comments posted by others on this blog are responsibility of the posters of those messages. The reader is solely responsible for verifying the content of this blog and any linked information.  Content, sources, information, and links will most likely change over time.  The content of this blog may not be construed
as legal, medical, business, or personal advice.david.mosher3993@my.sinclair.edu

         

"The BusinessofBaseball--FreeAgencyContinued"

       In my last segment, I covered the history of free agency and where it originated.   Continuing in that arena, this is what happens when a player has been drafted. 

       When a player has been drafted, he is bound to the team who has drafted him for three seasons in the minor leagues.
A minor league contract is automatically renewed on a year to year basis.  After three years, a player must either be added
to the 40 man roster, which then indicates that he has a major league contract, or the player is then eligible for what is called the Rule 5 draft.  Once a player has played for three consecutive seasons and is on the 40 man roster, there are then
team "options" on that player. They can send the player to the minors and still keep him under contract for three additional
seasons with automatic contract renewals.  Each player has three option years and can be sent up and down from the minors as often as the team sees fit during that period of time.

       However, a player with three or more seasons cannot be removed from the 40 man roster without his consent.  The player himself can opt for immediate release or release at the end of the season.  A player can also opt for free agency upon his removal from the 40 man roster, starting with the second removal of his career. On the next and final segment of this
BLOG, I will cover the provisions of the Rule 5 draft and how it fits into the free agency program.

This blog is prepared by a paralegal student as a class project, without compensation.  The content of this blog contains my opinion, and is offered for personal interest without warranty of any kind.  Comments posted by others
on this blog are the responsibility of the posters of those messages.  The reader is solely responsible for verifying the content of this blog and any linked information.  Content, sources, information, and links will most likely change over
time.  The content of this blog may not be construed as legal, medical, business, or personal advise.

           

"The Business of Baseball--The Free Agency"

     One of the most confusing things for baseball fans to understand is free agency.  It is a complex, complicated set of rules that has been negotiated in labor agreements between players and owners for more than 30 years, and the formula involved gets tweaked with each new agreement.

History of the Free Agency

     From the 19th Century through 1976, baseball players were committed to one team for life because of a

clause called the reserve clause.  Teams were allowed to renew contracts for one year as long as they wanted

to keep the player.  The beginnings of free agency began in 1969.  Longtime Cardinal outfielder Curt Flood was

being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies and refused to report.  Flood appealed his case to the Supreme Court,

but lost. His case, however, set in motion and put in place an arbitration system for owners and players' union

disputes.

In 1975, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally, Major League pitchers, played without a contract. They argued that their contract could not be renewed if it had never been signed. An abitrator agreed, and the two pitchers

were declared free agents.  With the reserve clause now successfully abolished, the owners and the players'

union then agreed to the rules governing free agency that the players and teams would follow. In my next

segment, I will cover the Rule 5 draft, minor league requirements and how the 40 man roster fits in.

This blog is prepared by a paralegal student as a class project, without compensation. The content of

this blog contains my opinion, and is offered for personal interest without warranty of any kind.  Comments posted by others on this blog are the responsibility of the posters of those messages. The

reader is solely responsible for verifying the content of this blog and any linked information.  Contents, sources, information, andlinks will most likely change over time.  The content of this blog may not be

construed as legal, medical, business, or personal advice.