Moncada

[Drew (Chicago Blue Jays)]

Correct.

[Henry (Cleveland Nationals)]

Just wanted to bump this as Hector Olivera's rehab assignment is expected to begin today, and he could be up any day now.

My understanding is that from the moment he is up, he is eligible to be bid on in FA blind bids. Firstly, am I right in this? And secondly, I worry about a situation where he is called up just before a Friday game and some bids are put in, but a lot of league participants are out having dinner etc at the time and just don't notice.

Could we (for example) add that the bidding happens at least (say) 4 days after his debut? So if he got called up on Monday, bidding on that same Friday is fine, but if he got called up on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, he would be bid on the following Friday.

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

Henry, thanks for bringing this up. Very timely.

You are correct. In what I affectionately call the Rusney Rule, we are able to offer a FA contract to an Intl signee if he is promoted to the Majors in season. If he's not then we wait to the following season's Minors draft.

I like the idea of having FA offers, for this type of FA only, eligible to be sent in via blind bid up until the Friday of the next week. So if player debuts any time during a week, owners would have until the following Friday to send in a blind FA offer. Gives all owners a fair crack.

I don't remember what day of the week Rusney was promoted last year but I do know there weren't many offers at all and I got him that same Friday.

Others have thoughts on this?

[Drew (Chicago Blue Jays)]

I think that makes sense.

[Henry (Cleveland Nationals)]

Absolutely- easy to administer too!

[Deleted]

My vote is that they are draft eligible in the off season. It will increase the talent available in the minors draft and benefits all teams

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

Steve, that's not the topic here. That would be an entirely different rule change that we'd need to vote on as a league.

The question I'm asking owners feedback on is: FA offers week of a promotion to majors, or do we extend the deadline a week to the Friday following a promotion to the majors?

If Olivera is promoted to the Majors this season, since he was signed AFTER our Minors draft began earlier this year, then he is eligible to be offered a FA contract via blind bid. We're just trying to make it as fair as possible for all owners. Thanks.

[Deleted]

Henry,
I thought the rule was clear when this was amended last year. FA offers the week of promotion. Not sure how this is unfair?
Why the extra week

Thanks

[Deleted]

How about the promotion has to show up on the MLB.com transaction page by Thursday to be eligible that Friday?

[Chuck (Philadelphia Astros)]

I totally agree with Andrew. I don't think there is a need for an extra week.

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

Well that's exactly how we have the rule now. If you're an owner that might want to offer a FA contract to one of these guys, like Olivera if/when he's promoted to Majors, then you have to be paying attention. Snooze you lose I guess. No, we don't need an extra week. If the MLB transaction is posted by Thursday, offers allowed as usual until Friday night 11:59pm. If a promotion happens on a Friday, then we'd have a whole week.

[Henry (Cleveland Nationals)]

The more people bidding, the better the auction. The objective of any real life auction is to maximise the revenue for the selling party, so the more time people have to evaluate and make their bids, the better. Obviously we can't wait an age, but if the announcement comes through MLB at 11pm on the Thursday and you're on holiday or have a busy day with work, kids or whatever on the Friday, you might miss out. So there needs to be some grace, IMO, and I think Scott's suggestion had that.

[As an aside, I am inclined to agree with Steve that he should go into offseason bidding and that would be better for the game. In Olivera's case a minor league contract seems wrong as he'll be up so I would lean towards putting him in the FA pool. But I know that was discussed earlier this year in this thread and if we do revisit that chat, maybe we should do it in the offseason. In theory people may have preserved their budgets to bid for a big FA and changing the rules midway seems unfair]

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

Sorry guys, don't mean to sound like I'm flip-flopping on this. I just want to make sure the league (as a majority) is good with what we decide. At first I thought a full week would be good based on Henry's first post, then my next reply seemed to lean towards same week only unless promotion came on a Friday, based on what Andrew thought.

Maybe I should post a poll?
Options would be 1) same week offer unless signing is Fri, 2) offers the week after a player is promoted, or 3) we revert to no FA offers of Intl signees promoted their 1st season and player goes to MiLB draft the next season. I don't like this option!

[Deleted]

I think it's too late to push Olivera to the off season. People may have budgeted. I say we vote on the two options for this year and revisit it in the offseason if we want to make them draft eligible

[Henry (Cleveland Nationals)]

I agree with Andrew on that

[Drew (Chicago Blue Jays)]

I agree that it is too late to change their eligibility. We could do that as soon as the season ends for the future if we want to, but in the case of Olivera and any others this season, I think we are just determining timing.

What if the rule is that they must play by Thursday? That takes out the speculation of announced vs. actual. If you play in a game by Thursday, you are eligible that week. If not, then we wait until the next week.

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

I agree with everything Drew says, but it should be "promoted" to majors by Thursday, not necessarily "played" by Thursday. The player can be up on the big league team and not have played. He's still eligible to be offered a FA contract.

[Henry (Cleveland Nationals)]

So a guy can get promoted Thursday night, not play and the bids need to be in for FA the next day? I just don't think that's nearly enough time to ensure everyone is aware, and is able to put a bid in should they desire.

I'd like to think I'm quick on the button, and read up on baseball news most days, so the potential for short notice could benefit me. However I'd be more comfortable if there was more grace, in the interests of having a properly competitive bidding process.

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

Again, this is all discussion for possibly tweaking the rule for 2016. This good banter will continue.

As for anything that may happen the remainder of 2015, the Rusney Rule remains as is. Let's further the discussion in the offseason. We'll likely have a couple new owners in the fold too.

[Scott (Boston Padres)]

UPDATE 9/6/15:

Hector Olivera was promoted to the Majors this past Tuesday September 1st. Several owners legally submitted contract offers following that promotion prior to the deadline Friday night September 4th. Winning offer posted in the FA Blind Bid Results thread.