For the Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija, game performance may not be the only deciding factor in whether or not he starts the season for the major league club in 2009. It may be determined by someone else’s play in past seasons.
You see, the Major League Baseball Player’s Union has negotiated several extra perks for their constituents through the years. In fact, the baseball player’s union has been said to be one of the most powerful unions in the world. As the result of their dominance in negotiating against the teams’ owners, they have earned the right to free agency. In the balance of owners wanting to keep and get rid of players when they want, and the players desire job security, the concept of ‘options’, ‘assignments’ and ‘waivers’ has been developed.
Any given major league player has a limited number of times in which they are allowed to be demoted (or, ‘optioned’) to the minor leagues. Once that limit has been reached, the player is eligible to be waived, meaning they would be available to be claimed by any of the other 29 major league teams.
So, how does this figure in to Samardzija’s situation with the team next year?
Well, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs have two major league roster spots to divide between Samardzija, Chad Gaudin, Angel Guzman, and David Patton. Gaudin, a solid reliever acquired from Oakland in last season’s trade for Rich Harden, has shown promise as a late-inning reliever in his major league career but has been demoted and promoted enough between Oakland and Chicago that he is out of options. Guzman is a great young talent who has made the major league team many times, but has been injured so often that the Cubs have needed to use up all of his options in order to have him rehabilitate those injures in the Triple-A Iowa Cubs arm of the organization. David Patton, the Cubs’ Rule 5 Pick (which is another story entirely), is required to traded back to his original team for nothing if he does not make the Cubs’ major league roster at the start of the season.
Unfortunately for Samardzija, who is arguably better than any of the aforementioned three pitchers, may have to wait in the wings in Iowa for an injury to someone on the major league staff to be able to make the major league roster. Why? Because he is the only one of the four with an option or two left to give.
Now, the situation gets more complicated in that teams have expressed interest in trading for Gaudin and Guzman, but trading away these players may leave the Cubs without any pitching depth.
So, the last 3 or 4 days before the Opening Day roster must be set will be a busy one for Cubs’ general manager Jim Hendry. He has a lot of though decisions to make.