Learn more about the infamous term designated for assignment, which is frequently used in MLB and can be triggered by teams to remove underperforming players from their squad and its meaning in baseball
To be designated for assignment is one of the more distinctive baseball transaction kinds. A team may decide it’s time to press the DFA button if a major league player is drastically underperforming, which can have a number of various effects.
Designated for Assignment meaning in MLB and baseball
OF José Siri has been claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners.
Siri was designated for assignment last Monday after the #Reds signed OF Nick Castellanos. pic.twitter.com/DiSg7xWx6g
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) February 3, 2020
How does designated for assignment system works?
A player is instantly removed from his club’s 40-man roster when his contract is designated for assignment, also referred to as DFA. The player can be traded or put on unconditional, irreversible waivers within seven days after the transaction. The player is instantly added to the 40-man roster of that team if he is claimed off those waivers by another club. From there, he can either be optioned to the Minor Leagues or added to the 26-man roster of his new team. After clearing waivers, the player may either be immediately assigned to the Minor Leagues or discharged. In favor of free agency, players with more than three seasons of Major League experience or those who have already been outrighted may decline the outright assignment.
Clubs may use this option to free up a space on the 40-man roster, usually in order to add any player they have recently acquired/player from the Minor Leagues/player who has been activated from the 60-day disabled list.
What are the possible consequences of DFA?
Talented players frequently end up on waivers but never get claimed for one crucial reason: the contract. The team that added a player would also be responsible for the remaining balance of the player’s contract if he were to be claimed off waivers or acquired through a trade. The expectation that another team will pick them up and remove the contract from the books is frequently a factor in a team’s decision to DFA a player.
The player can sign a contract with any other team on a prorated fraction of the MLB minimum, which is $720,000, if he becomes a free agent. The team that DFA’d the player would then pay him the balance of his previous contract’s salary, less the prorated MLB minimum that the acquiring team had agreed to pay.