Mariners have fewer options on some guys

Published Feb. 11, 2010 at 6:47 a.m.

Friend of the blog and all-around content distributor Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors emailed me the other day. Dierkes is putting together a list of players on all teams who are out of minor league options and wanted to know who the Seattle candidates were. Should be an interesting read, given how there are always some last minute waiver claims made on these guys by the end of spring training. The way it works is, when a guy is out of options, you have to "outright" him to the minors by having him clear waivers first. So, at the end of camp, if an out of options guy doesn't make the major league squad, you risk losing him by sending him back down.

Please note, this does not apply to guys on minor league deals. Chris Shelton was sent to the minors last spring because he was on such a deal and technically was already "in" the minors. Had Shelton been a 40-man roster guy like Mike Morse, I have no doubt he'd have been snatched up, given how good a spring he had. Morse did not have as good a spring and cleared waivers once outrighted to the minors. Hey, it's a chance you take. Mariners farmhand Guillermo Quiroz, who caught a few games for the team last year, was once Toronto's catcher of the future but wound up claimed by Seattle at the end of 2006 spring training because he was out of options and did not clear.

Now, obviously, whether a guy still has minor league options left could have an impact on whether he makes a team out of spring training.

Let's look at the Mariners and who is out of options when it comes to 40-man roster guys with under six years of service time (meaning guys still under club control before their free agency period).

David Aardsma
Brandon League
Ryan Langerhans
Ian Snell
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Franklin Gutierrez

So, what does this mean for spring training?

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