Talk:Major League Baseball transactions

Article Should Probably Be Simplified
I think some of this article should probably be simplified for ease of reading. The waivers section in particular seems to assume a fair amount of background knowledge on the part of the reader and reads essentially like a legal document. I personally know how the waivers system works, but if you put yourself in the shoes of a European who has never had any exposure to baseball, for instance, they would probably be left quite confused as to what "waivers" actually means and why the system exists in the first place. Blankfrackis (talk) 19:42, 13 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I just reviewed the waivers section and it seems okay to me, but if you think you can improve it, by all means be bold and have at it. After all, that's what Wikipedia's all about, right? --Sanfranman59 (talk) 22:45, 13 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I thought I should put a note here before any changes were made. My opinion is it would go over the head of someone unacquainted with the sport and should be simplified - at the risk of it appearing dumbed down. I understand some people might disagree with that though. Blankfrackis (talk) 10:55, 14 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Agreed. I came here looking for a clear & concise explanation of salary arbitration (searching for the term redirects to this article's section), only to find it buried after the two lists of conditions etc. Perhaps a little extra formatting would go along way there, but a quick summary at the section top would be better. I don't feel qualified to make the change. PrBeacon (talk) 04:00, 29 March 2010 (UTC) + 14 June 2010

Trades
"Teams may trade players currently on contract, exclusive rights to sign players not under contract (i.e. minor leaguers and major leaguers ineligible for free agency), and draft choices. From the end of the previous World Series through July, trades between two or more major league teams may freely occur at any time. In August, trades may only be made after all players in the trade clear waivers or are not on 40-man rosters. No trades may occur from September through the end of the World Series."
 * Is that right? I'm pretty sure that draft picks are not tradable and that players not under contract are only tradable if they've signed a contract is one form or another -- that is, a player drafted but not yet signed may not be traded. --DNL 15:38, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I could be wrong but another thing that I believe is incorrect is that September trades *are* possible and they are done. --Woohookitty(cat scratches) 22:17, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Trades during September are allowed- they rarely happen because the traded players can't be on the postseason roster. There are loopholes (K-Rod in 2002), but I don't know the details.
 * I thought there was a recent change to allow trading of draft choices, but I can't find confirmation anywhere--I'll change the article to match this: . I don't think September trades are possible--find a source if it is otherwise... --Locarno 16:09, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

"If a player is drafted and is offered a contract by his drafting team (or any team he is traded to) each year, he may not become a free agent until he has been on a major league roster or disabled list for at least six years." This is not entirely true. There are minor league free agents also. The arbitration sections is incorrect in that teams can offer players with 6+ years of service time arbitration also. This is how compensation draft picks are gained (if the player refuses arb and choose free agency). Also certain players with only 2+ years of service teams are arb-eligible (Super Twos). Also, there are at least three types of waivers--unconditional release, irrevocable, procedural (revocable)--I think there might be more. This waiver stuff is really confusing, I really don't understand it. I'll try to change some of this stuff myself, but I don't really think I know enough about this to ensure that my edits will be more accurate than the current text. WLevine 00:26, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

According to this:, September trades are possible. The issue is that any player traded after August 31 is ineligible for the postseason, so you don't see them very often. That goes along with what I'd thought about the issue. Brad E. Williams 12:44, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Proposed edit to 25/40-man roster section
Since Expanded roster has been proposed for deletion (and I believe rightly so), I suggest modifying the "25/40-man roster" section of this article as follows:


 * Each Major League Baseball team maintains both a 25-man roster and a 40-man roster of players. Players on the 25-man roster are eligible to play in official major league games throughout the season. The 40-man roster includes the players on the 25-man roster plus as many as 15 other players who are either on the team's 15-day disabled list (see below) or who are in the team's minor league system. From September 1 through the end of the regular season, any player on the 40-man roster (also referred to as the "expanded roster"} is eligible to play in an official regular season game. Players must be on a team's 25-man roster as of September 1 to be eligible for post-season play.

I also propose changing the header of this section to "25-man and 40-man rosters" since I think this makes it more clear that they are really two different things.

Comments? --Sanfranman59 20:23, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

"Disabled list" section
Re "Players on the 60-day disabled list do not count against either the 25- or 40-man rosters; however to use the 60-day disabled list, both the 25- and 40-man rosters must be full."

I'm not sure that the last part of this sentence is true. I couldn't find anything supporting it and there are a number of teams who have fewer than 40 players on their extended rosters but also have players on the 60-day DL (e.g., Arizona has DaVanon on the 60-day but only 14 inactive players on their 40-man and Atlanta has Sturtze on the 60-day but only 13 inactive players). Can someone provide a source for this statement? --Sanfranman59 23:53, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Title change section
A suggestion might be to change the title to "MLB Transaction Types" as that is the actual content of the page, not details of transactions.

Just wanted to say thanks to all involved for such a great concise article. I've wondered about the terms and complexity of the MLB player system for a lot of years. THANKS again! Ron S 20:48, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

"Super 2" qualifing percentage changed from top 17% to top 22% in latest MLBPA/MLB CBA
reference: http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/info/faq.jsp

Twspringer (talk) 23:15, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Outright
I think this article needs to explain in the Assignment to a minor league team section what it means to be outrighted off a roster. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 10:55, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Options section is ambiguous
The options section is ambiguous as to whether a player's option years must be consecutive. (They do not.) Particularly this sentence suggests they do: "Once placed on the protected 40-man roster the player knows his team will have to bring him up to the majors, or expose him to being claimed on waivers so that another team can bring him to the majors, all within three years." (My emphasis.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 40.133.163.45 (talk • contribs) 16:30, 4 May 2018 (UTC)