{"id":597,"date":"2011-02-10T15:42:58","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T20:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2011-02-11T13:11:18","modified_gmt":"2011-02-11T18:11:18","slug":"option-status-of-the-nats-40-man-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"Option Status of the Nats 40-man roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_601\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Chien-Ming-Wang-PC-21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-601\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-601\" title=\"Chien-Ming Wang PC 2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Chien-Ming-Wang-PC-21-300x229.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Chien-Ming-Wang-PC-21-300x229.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Chien-Ming-Wang-PC-21.jpg 439w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-601\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The closest Wang has ever come to pitching for our franchise.  Photo Nats320\/Jeff Saffelle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After asking myself the question, &#8220;Does player XYZ have any more options?&#8221; several times this year I decided to update Brian Oliver&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/natsfarm.com\/2010\/03\/06\/option-status\/\">2010 version of this post<\/a> (available on his cherished yet idle website) for this year&#8217;s version of the Nats 40-man roster.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the key rules when it comes to Options (read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scottmoorefans.com\/Options.htm\">here<\/a> for a longer narrative form missive).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If a player is on the 40-man but not on the 25-man (active) roster, then they have to be placed on &#8220;optional assignment&#8221; to the minors for the year and they &#8220;burn&#8221; an option year.<\/li>\n<li>If a player spends 20 days or less in the minors in a given year, then an option is not &#8220;burned.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>A player only gets three such &#8220;option years&#8221; while under contract to a given team; if they have been on optional assignment 3 years and are attempted to be optioned to the minors a 4th time, they are subject to waivers.<\/li>\n<li>If a players has less than 5 years of professional service (at any level), the club can petition and usually obtain a forth optional year.\u00a0 See this link at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/help\/faq.html#opt\">Baseball America<\/a> for clarity on this (Thanks <a href=\"http:\/\/nationalsprospects.com\/\">Sue Dienem<\/a>).\u00a0 The only way this really happens is if a guy gets added to the 40-man immediately after the draft and doesn&#8217;t languish in the minors, or if a player has a ton of injuries that eat up his minor league seasons.<\/li>\n<li>If a player spends the entire year on the DL, or if the only minor league time is on a rehab assignment, then an option year is NOT burned.<\/li>\n<li>If a player has MORE than 5 years of service, then according to the Basic Agreement that player can only be optionally assigned with his written approval.\u00a0 In other words, the player can refuse such an assignment and immediately become a free agent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And, before we go any further, here&#8217;s a great link defining how<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2009\/06\/service-time.html\"> service time is calculated<\/a> on mlbtraderumors.com.\u00a0 This is important, because the credited years of service directly impacts whether or not a team can request a fourth option year.\u00a0 The policy for both service time and Optional assignments are defined in the <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/pa\/info\/cba.jsp\">Collective Bargaining Agreement<\/a>, Section XXI, though further details about Optional assignments are located in attachments, letters from attorneys and other sections of the CBA.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll divide the 40-man roster candidates into several sections.\u00a0 In all cases the service times listed are at the beginning of 2010, since <a href=\"http:\/\/mlbcontracts.blogspot.com\/2005\/01\/washington-nationals_01.html\">Cot&#8217;s site<\/a> has not\u00a0 yet updated them for the 2010 season.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t bother to try to do the calculations, since they&#8217;re incredibly complex.\u00a0 Years of service are listed in years.days, and a &#8220;year&#8221; of service is exactly 172 days.\u00a0 So for example Pudge&#8217;s 18.109 means he has 18 full seasons plus an additional 109 days.<\/p>\n<h3>Section 1: Veterans who can refuse demotion based on Service Time.<\/h3>\n<p>Once a player has 5 or more years of Major League Service, the can refuse assignments to the minor leagues.\u00a0 Therefore options are irrelevant on our older players; if they perform badly enough to be removed from the 25-man roster, odds are they&#8217;d demand to be released and would not accept an assignment to AAA.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"266\">\n<col width=\"156\"><\/col>\n<col width=\"110\"><\/col>\n<tbody>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Rodriguez,   Ivan<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">18.109<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Hernandez,   Livan<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">11.097<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Hairston,   Jerry<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">9.127<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Marquis,   Jason<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">9.012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Werth,   Jayson<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">6.102<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Ankiel,   Rick<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">6.033<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">LaRoche,   Adam<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr height=\"20\">\n<td width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Coffey,   Todd<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">4.024<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The only real 25-man question mark for me is <strong>Todd Coffey<\/strong>.\u00a0 I&#8217;m listing him here assuming that the full season in Milwaukee put him over the 5 year threshold for service.\u00a0 This is notable though; it virtually guarantees him one of the 7 bullpen spots and means the likelihood of someone like <strong>Cole Kimball<\/strong>, <strong>Adam Carr<\/strong>, <strong>Colin Balester<\/strong>, or <strong>Craig Stammen<\/strong> making the roster is significantly lowered.<\/p>\n<h3>Section 2: Players who have Options available but are MLB entrenched<\/h3>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"407\">\n<col style=\"width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 54pt;\" width=\"72\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\"><\/col>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 90pt;\" height=\"120\">\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"height: 90pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"120\">Player<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl67\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">Service Time per Cots as of   beginning of 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl73\" style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\">First Added to 40-man<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl70\" style=\"width: 54pt;\" width=\"72\">Option Years Used<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\">Options left?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Zimmerman,   Ryan<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">4.032<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Sep 2005<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">none<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Espinosa,   Danny<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Sep 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">none<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Storen,   Drew<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">May 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">none<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Zimmermann,   Jordan<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.168<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Apr 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Desmond,   Ian<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.027<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Strasburg,   Stephen<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Aug 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Lannan,   John<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">2.04<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">July 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2007, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Morgan,   Nyjer<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">1.12<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2006<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2007, 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 705px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;\">\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"602\">\n<col style=\"width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 54pt;\" width=\"72\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 146pt;\" width=\"195\"><\/col>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 90pt;\" height=\"120\">\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"height: 90pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"120\">Player<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl67\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">Service Time per Cots as of   beginning of 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl73\" style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\">First Added to 40-man<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl70\" style=\"width: 54pt;\" width=\"72\">Option Years Used<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\">Options left?<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"width: 146pt;\" width=\"195\">Notes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Zimmerman,   Ryan<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">4.032<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Sep 2005<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">none<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">3<\/td>\n<td>never used an option.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Espinosa,   Danny<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Sep 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">none<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">3<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Storen,   Drew<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">May 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">none<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">3<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Zimmermann,   Jordan<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.168<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Apr 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<td>Arguable; 2009 may not have counted b\/c he only had 2 starts.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Desmond,   Ian<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.027<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Strasburg,   Stephen<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Aug 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<td>Probably eligible for a 4th based on lack of svc time.<span> <\/span>Did 2009 count?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Lannan,   John<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">2.04<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">July 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2007, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<td>Believe the 9 days in 2009 spent in minors did NOT burn an option year.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Morgan,   Nyjer<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">1.12<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2006<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2007, 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Strasburg<\/strong> is a special case; he&#8217;ll move immediately to the 60-day DL and probably stay there til september, at which point he&#8217;ll make some rehab starts and likely not ever get to use an optional assignment.\u00a0 As for the rest,\u00a0 theoretically any of these guys could be sent down mid-2011 without any say, much as we did with <strong>John Lannan<\/strong> mid last year.\u00a0 However, they are all slated to be starters and to be important members of the 2011 team.\u00a0 I could see <strong>Espinosa<\/strong> or <strong>Morgan<\/strong> hitting a rough patch at the plate and getting sent down to work on their swings, but the rest should be fixtures at the MLB level going forward.\u00a0 <strong>Zimmerman<\/strong> may have graduated to the first section but his option status is pretty much irrelevant; he&#8217;s our marquee player and won&#8217;t be optioned to the minors.\u00a0 He&#8217;s halfway to being a 10 and 5 guy (meaning he gets automatic no-trade status).<\/p>\n<h3>Section 3: Players who have Options Available and thus will Jeopardize their ability to make the 25-man roster out of spring.<\/h3>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"407\">\n<col style=\"width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 54pt;\" width=\"72\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\"><\/col>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 90pt;\" height=\"120\">\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"height: 90pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"120\">Player<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl67\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">Service Time per Cots as of   beginning of 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl73\" style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\">First Added to 40-man<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl70\" style=\"width: 54pt;\" width=\"72\">Option Years Used<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\">Options left?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Flores,   Jesus<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">2.158<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Dec 2006<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Maya,   Yuneski<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">July 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Stammen,   Craig<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.137<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">May 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2009, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Balester,   Collin<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.125<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Jun 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2009, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Atilano,   Luis<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2009, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Ramos,   Wilson<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2009, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Detwiler, Ross<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Sept 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2008, 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Mock,   Garrett<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">1.007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Oct 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2008, 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>First off, I believe <strong>Luis Atilano<\/strong> is going to be the next 40-man victim, but even if he was retained in favor of another he has little shot of making the team out of the spring, and will eventually be cut loose from the 40-man roster.\u00a0 <strong>Maya<\/strong>&#8216;s status will depend on his spring training but in all likelihood he&#8217;s starting the year in AAA (see the next section for some reasoning as to why).\u00a0\u00a0 Whoever loses the backup catcher role will burn the last of their remaining options, making a trade even more likely in the near future for one of <strong>Ramos<\/strong> or <strong>Flores<\/strong>.\u00a0 <strong>Detwiler<\/strong>&#8216;s well timed injury last year allowed him to pitch in the minors on an extended rehab assignment, then get called back up to the Majors without burning an option; that last option probably gets burned in 2010 as he seems 7th or 8th in line for 5 rotation spots.\u00a0 Similarly to Detwiler, <strong>Garrett Mock<\/strong>&#8216;s injury diagnosis so soon after being optioned (after blowing his first start) allowed the Nats to cancel the option, put him on the 60-day DL and save his services for one more year.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly both <strong>Balester<\/strong> and <strong>Stammen<\/strong> have options left and both may end up using them this year; I see these two players competing for the long man\/spot starter position with Coffey and Henry Rodriguez, which is bad news since Rodriguez is out of options (see next section).\u00a0 <strong>2\/11\/11 update<\/strong>: Stammen may not have burned an option in 2010 by virtue of spending fewer than 20 days in the minors, per Sue Dinem.<\/p>\n<h3>Section 4: Players who have No Options available<\/h3>\n<p>A caveat before moving on; while some of these players have no options left, some of them have so little service time that the team may petition the league for a fourth option year.\u00a0 Such petitions (if i&#8217;m reading the rules correctly) do not occur until the end of spring training and thus we do not know who may be subject to this rule.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"478\">\n<col style=\"width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 107pt;\" width=\"143\"><\/col>\n<col style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\"><\/col>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 90pt;\" height=\"120\">\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"height: 90pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"120\">Player<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl67\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">Service Time per Cots as of   beginning of 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl73\" style=\"width: 49pt;\" width=\"65\">First Added to 40-man<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl70\" style=\"width: 107pt;\" width=\"143\">Option Years Used<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl66\" style=\"width: 35pt;\" width=\"47\">Options left?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Wang,   Chien-Ming<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">4.159<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Mid 2003<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2003, 2004, 2005<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Burnett,   Sean<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">3.085<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2003<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2004, 2006, 2007, 2008<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Gorzelanny,   Tom<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">2.16<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Sept 2005<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2006, 2008, 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Morse,   Michael<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">2.114<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2004<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2005, 2006, 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Slaten,   Doug<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">2.067<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2005<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2006, 2008, 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Gonzalez,   Alberto<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">1.135<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2006<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2007, 2008, 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Bernadina,   Roger<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">1.041<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Oct 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2008, 2009, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Clippard,   Tyler<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.148<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">May 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2007, 2008, 2009<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 15pt;\" height=\"20\">\n<td class=\"xl65\" style=\"height: 15pt; width: 117pt;\" width=\"156\" height=\"20\">Rodriguez,   Henry<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl69\" style=\"width: 50pt;\" width=\"67\">0.016<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl72\">Nov 2007<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl71\">2008, 2009, 2010<\/td>\n<td class=\"xl68\">0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Now, here&#8217;s where the roster decisions become rather interesting.\u00a0 Lots of these players listed here are in open competitions for spots this spring and their lack of options may be telling.\u00a0 Lets go section by section:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Chein-Ming Wang<\/strong>:\u00a0 He&#8217;s seemingly just a few days short of the 5 year requirement to refuse assignment, but the Nats wouldn&#8217;t possibly have given him a major league deal if they were out of options and essentially had to guarantee him a major league spot.\u00a0 My guess is either the Nats are going to look to start him on the DL, claiming some post-rehab injury if he doesn&#8217;t make the starting rotation or peitition the league for a fourth option year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tom Gorzelanny<\/strong>: he has no options left, is signed to a $2M contract and will be either the 5th starter or a long man out of the bullpen.\u00a0 This fact pretty much guarantees that he makes the opening day roster and almost certainly guarantees that Maya, Wang and Detwiler (barring spring training injury or huge shock) are starting the year in the minors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Burnett<\/strong>, <strong>Morse<\/strong>, <strong>Bernadina<\/strong>, <strong>Clippard<\/strong>: All four of these guys are expected to make the roster rather easily, so no option issues should exist.\u00a0 The one question mark could be Morse, who despite hitting the cover off the ball last year watched the Nats systematically bring in player after player to compete with him for his bench role in 2011.\u00a0 We signed Ankiel, we traded for Corey Brown, and then invited four other outfielders to spring training.\u00a0 My guess is that the Nats will keep 5 outfielders though and he&#8217;ll be safe.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slaten<\/strong> signed a relatively modest deal for $695K for the year, and really only faces competition from one guy for the loogy spot (Severino, who has never pitched in the majors before).\u00a0 So the odds are high that he makes the team in that role.\u00a0 He&#8217;s out of options, has been DFA&#8217;d in the past and passed through waivers with our team once before, but his performance last year would probably result in his being claimed this year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alberto Gonzalez<\/strong>: He also settled pre-arbitration for $700k but hit badly last year, made noise about wanting to be a starter, and watched the Nats bring in <strong>Hairston<\/strong>, <strong>Cora<\/strong>, and <strong>Cintron<\/strong> to compete with him for the utility infielder.\u00a0 If he doesn&#8217;t have a good spring, there is little value in keeping him on the 40-man roster.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Henry Rodriguez<\/strong>: out of options, and someone we gave up Willingham to get, so he&#8217;s basically guaranteed a 25-man spot.\u00a0 This (as noted above) essentially eliminates the possibility of someone like Kimball, Carr, or Stammen to make the team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2\/11\/11 update<\/strong>: Sue Dinem points out that Bernadina did NOT burn an option in 2010, having only spent a few days in the minors.\u00a0 This is important as it may lead to him to be sent down if we decide to keep one extra outfielder.<\/p>\n<h3>Section 5:rule 5 pickups that have no chance of making the team<\/h3>\n<p>The two remaining players on the 40-man right now not previously mentioned are our two rule5 pickups <strong>Elvin Ramirez<\/strong> and <strong>Brian Broderick<\/strong>.\u00a0 I feel neither guy has any chance of making our 25-man roster, and both will be either returned or a trade negotiated.\u00a0 Because both were never on a 40-man, they both have zero service time and all 3 options remaining at this point.<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, here&#8217;s my prediction on the opening day 25-man roster, based on the above analysis:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SP: LHernandez, Zimmermann, Lannan, Marquis, Gorzelanny<br \/>\nRP: Burnett, Slaten, Clippard, Storen, Balester, HRodriguez, Coffey<br \/>\nC: IRodriguez, Flores<br \/>\nINF: Desmond, RZimmerman, AGonzalez, Espinosa, LaRoche, Hairston<br \/>\nOF: Bernadina, Morgan, Morse, Werth, Ankiel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>5 outfielders, Flores over Ramos and Gorzelanny over Maya and Detwiler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After asking myself the question, &#8220;Does player XYZ have any more options?&#8221; several times this year I decided to update Brian Oliver&#8217;s 2010 version of this post (available on his cherished yet idle website) for this year&#8217;s version of the Nats 40-man roster. Here&#8217;s the key rules when it comes to Options (read here for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}