I noticed the question in the Chip's always great Hot Stove League report that a caller asked whether Freel still has options. I thought I'd post this little excerpt from an explanation of options from Scouts.com so we can be aware of what moves can be made by the club. I'm also including a link to Cot's Reds Contract page.
So, for instance, according to Cot's, Freel has just 4.14 years of ML experience, so he would have to clear waivers if he still has an option (and I don't know the answer to that question; I can't remember the list of Reds players who still do). Griffey, who still has options, would have to give his written agreement since he has five years plus of ML experience.
Here's the excerpt:
Here's Cot's pageOptions never used
At the other end of the experience spectrum, an interesting phenomenon occurs when a player rises quickly through the minors before reaching the big leagues, then sticks there. Take Albert Pujols for example. He has all three option years remaining –not that they will ever be used. But, they still remain as a reminder of how rapidly his star ascended.
Many other Cardinals front-liners, such as Chris Carpenter, Jason Isringhausen, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen also have remaining options, for what it is worth. It is important to remember that waivers is the only alternative that can be used for passing these players to the minors when more than three years has elapsed since they first came up, even though they still have options remaining.
There is another catch. Once a player has five or more years of experience, his written consent is required before he can be sent to the minors. There are times when a player exercises that right to stay put in the majors. Even if the player agrees to go down, he must pass through waivers, where another team may claim him.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/200...i-reds_24.html
The site also explains regular options as well:
Once a player is placed on the 40-man roster, such as Brendan Ryan and Travis Hanson this off-season, their clock starts ticking. The team only has three option years for that player to complete their minor league preparation. By the time those three years are exhausted, the player either must be ready to join the 25-man big league roster for good or the team will risk losing the player to another organization.
There is a key point often misunderstood about options. Cardinals Assistant General Manager John Mozeliak explained it to me this way. “The use of options is based on years, not occurrences. What that means is that a player could be sent down and brought back up multiple times during a single season and that would still use up only one option year in the process.”
Only twenty days spent in the minors at any time during the season will cause that year's option to be spent.
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Originally Posted by princeton
