Minor League Baseball Forum FAQ's

[Red Leader]

Just throwing this together. Will sticky and put at the top for all to view. If there is anything you'd like me to add, let me know via PM as I want to keep this thread clean and free of a lot of posts. Thanks.

Minor League FAQ's:

I. Reds Affiliates and Rules


1) What are the different levels of the minor leagues and what are the team names for each of the Reds affiliates?


AAA - Louisville Bats (International League)
http://www.oursportscentral.com/images/teams/ilbats.gif
AA - Chattanooga Lookouts (Southern League)

http://www.ballparkwatch.com/images/chattanooga_lookouts.gif

High A - Sarasota Reds (Florida State League)
http://www.oursportscentral.com/images/teams/fslreds.gif
Low A - Dayton Dragons (Midwest League)

http://www.oursportscentral.com/images/teams/mwldragons.gif

Rookie - Billings Mustangs (Pioneer League); GCL Reds (Gulf Coast League); VSL Reds (Cagua-Venezuelan Summer League)

http://www.oursportscentral.com/images/teams/plmustangs.gif
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/images/clubheaderlogos/t472_logo_lg.gif




2) What are some media outlets I can check to keep track of the Reds minor league affiliates?

Newspaper:

Louisville: Courier-Journal (Bats – AAA)
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Chattanooga: [the Chattanooga Times & Free Press is subscriber only IIRC]
I get my information from the Chattanoogan (Lookouts – AA)
http://www.chattanoogan.com/

Sarasota: Herald Tribune (Reds – High A)
http://www.newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Dayton: Daily News (Dragons – Low A)
http://www.daytondailynews.com/ [need to register]

Billings: Gazette (Mustangs – Rookie)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/

No coverage for the GCL Reds.


Internet:

Official sites:

Louisville Bats:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t416

Chattanooga Lookouts:

http://www.lookouts.com/

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t498

Sarasota Reds:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t535

Dayton Dragons:

http://www.daytondragons.com/

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t459

Billings Mustangs:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t513



3) How many players can each minor league team have?

Minor League Rosters
Minor-league rosters consist of an Active List (players currently eligible to play) and a Reserve List (the entire roster). Players may be loaned to other minor league clubs, but they must be returned by September 30. Minor-league clubs may place injured players on the disabled list for 7 or 60 days (the Emergency Disabled List). As with players in the majors, players on the minor-league 60-day disabled list do not count against either roster limit. Age restrictions do not apply to players on rehab assignments.

Reserve List roster limits

38 players for AAA clubs, 37 for AA clubs, 35 for A clubs and below

Active List roster limits

AAA = 24 w/ no player eligibility rule

AA = 23; 24 for 1st 30 days of season & after Aug. 9th, no player eligibility restrictions

High A = 25, no more than 2 players & 1 player coach on active list may have more than 6 yrs. experience

Low A = 25, same as above except 5 years experience

Short Season A = (NY Penn League) 30 active, no more than 25 in uniform for any game; no more than 4 players over age 23; no more than 4 players with 4 or more years of prior service (NW League can have 35 under control

Rookie Advanced A = 35 active 2 yrs prior service restriction, no more than 15 players 21 or older w/no more than 2 of those over age of 23, line-up card limted to 12 players age 21


4) Where can I go to view Box Scores of yesterday’s Reds minor league affiliates?

http://firstinning.com/daily/cin/


5) What does it mean when a player is “Optioned” and how often can he be “Optioned” to the minor leagues?

After three years as a pro, a player must be protected on a team's 40-man roster, or he is eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Once he's served those three years, and assuming he is added to the 40-man roster, his club then has what are called "options" on him.
When a player is on the 40-man roster but not on the 25-man Major League roster, he is on "optional assignment." One common misconception about the rules is that a player may only be "optioned out" three times. Actually, each player has three option years, and he can be sent up and down as many times as the club chooses within those three seasons.
When you hear that a player is "out of options," that means he's been on the 40-man roster during three different seasons, beginning with his fourth as a pro, and to be sent down again he'll have to clear waivers.


6) Is there a minimum salary for minor league players?

Minor League minimum salary
(for players on 40-man rosters for at least the second year or for players with at least one day of major league service)

2009: $65,000
2008: $62,500
2007: $60,000
2006: $54,500
2005: $52,600
Under the 2007-11 CBA, the new minimum for a player placed on the 40-man roster for the first time is $30,000 (50% of minor league minimum).


7) Can a minor league player become a free agent?

A player becomes eligible to sign with any organization as a minor league free agent when he has played six full minor-league seasons with the club that drafted him. If a player is released, he becomes a minor league free agent upon the expiration of any subsequent contract he signs.

8) When does the Billings Mustangs (Rookie) season start?

In 2007, the Billings Mustangs start play on June 21st, 2007.


II. Other Minor League Baseball Related Links:

The Official Site of Minor League Baseball:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp

The Baseball Cube:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/teams/minors.shtml

Baseball America, player finder:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/Stats/playerfind.html




*thanks to all for you help and information in getting this put together...

[reds44]

Awesome work Red Leader.

[RichRed]

That's great. Thanks for putting that together.

[Boss-Hog]

Thank you :beerme:

[nw_ohio_fan]

Thank you, that was a very helpful.

[GoReds33]

Thanks.

[AmarilloRed]

I have a question for you: I have heard you can get the Louisville games on Gameday for free if you register. Any information on how you can do that?

[dougdirt]

I have a question for you: I have heard you can get the Louisville games on Gameday for free if you register. Any information on how you can do that?

Gameday is free all the time. You can listen to the games online for free through the milb.com multimedia page. You have to register, but that is free. If you want to watch the Bats home games, you can buy a package that will allow you to watch them at home on your computer.

[11larkin11]

Don't know if you meant to put them or not, but we also have the VSL Reds/Rays

[redsmetz]

Don't we also have a team in the Dominican Summer League? Or is it no longer around?

http://www.dominicansummerleague.com/standing.htm#

[dougdirt]

Yes we do have a DSL team.

[kcjones]

Will Sarasota ever broadcast their games?

[dougdirt]

Very doubtful kcjones. There just is no interest down there in the FSL. Most teams struggle to get 700 fans in the seats.

[jmcclain19]

Very doubtful kcjones. There just is no interest down there in the FSL. Most teams struggle to get 700 fans in the seats.

And most GCL teams struggle to get 7.

I have a long drawn out argument on how Florida is one on the worst fanbases for baseball but I'll save that for another day.

[jojo]

5) What does it mean when a player is “Optioned” and how often can he be “Optioned” to the minor leagues?

After three years as a pro, a player must be protected on a team's 40-man roster, or he is eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Once he's served those three years, and assuming he is added to the 40-man roster, his club then has what are called "options" on him.
When a player is on the 40-man roster but not on the 25-man Major League roster, he is on "optional assignment." One common misconception about the rules is that a player may only be "optioned out" three times. Actually, each player has three option years, and he can be sent up and down as many times as the club chooses within those three seasons.
When you hear that a player is "out of options," that means he's been on the 40-man roster during three different seasons, beginning with his fourth as a pro, and to be sent down again he'll have to clear waivers.

Great job!

I'd offer this as maybe an appendum to the above section. As it turns out the CBA makes an allowance for a FOURTH option:

Contracts of Major League players who, prior to commencement of the current season, have been credited with less than five seasons in professional baseball… shall be eligible for a fourth optional assignment, without waivers, during that season.

Short-season leagues don't count against service time under this exception. I'm not sure if this is a wrinkle created by the new CBA or if it's been an obscure exception for quite awhile that simply hasn't been utilized very often for what are probably fairly obvious reasons.

I've only recently become aware of this through comments Bill Bavasi made during a meet and greet he recently had with members of the Ms blogoshpere:

http://prospectinsider.com/?p=61

http://ussmariner.com/2007/08/06/weekend-in-seattle-roundup/

[Vada Pinson Fan]

Thank You Red Leader! You presented a wealth of knowledge for us to enjoy and I thank you very much for that!

Best Wishes,
Vada Pinson Fan