Contract Question

I heard that the reason Jake Robbins was released was because he had an out clause in his contract for July 1st. What does that mean exactly? The other comment was that he may have taken his out on 7/1 regardless of if a move needed to be made. Would a player do that if he felt little chance of getting called up? With the way the bullpen in Cincy has been, he probably had a decent chance of getting called up at some point this summer so I can't imagine that he'd ask to be released. Just wondering if the out in a contract is player requested or team imposed.

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by kapers

I heard that the reason Jake Robbins was released was because he had an out clause in his contract for July 1st. What does that mean exactly? The other comment was that he may have taken his out on 7/1 regardless of if a move needed to be made. Would a player do that if he felt little chance of getting called up? With the way the bullpen in Cincy has been, he probably had a decent chance of getting called up at some point this summer so I can't imagine that he'd ask to be released. Just wondering if the out in a contract is player requested or team imposed.

I think it means that if he wasn't on the ML roster by July 1, he would become a free agent then and free to persue a deal with whatever team he wanted If the onset of more and more one-time major leaguers showing up in AAA (or even AA), it's not uncommon, I think, for players to have such "out" clauses. I know one player with the Reds who had it in his contract that if any team inquired about him for their major league roster, the Reds had to either call him up to the majors, trade him or give him his release.