The designated for assignment means that the team is sending the player back to the minor leagues for a period of time. If a team wanted to send a player to the minor leagues but didn’t want to do so for a long time, it would send them to waivers.
Designated for assignment means that a player becomes a free agent. He leaves the team and has the option of joining another team while the season is in progress. He must stay in the league and doesn’t need to go through arbitration.
What Does Designated for Assignment (DFA) Mean?
An Example of How this Works
The Orioles traded for outfielder Trayvon Robinson and the Indians traded for shortstop Jason Kipnis. This is a perfect scenario if you’re the Indians because they’ve added a bat to their lineup and added more protection to their defense. It’s interesting to note that Robinson was a top prospect for the Indians prior to the trade, while Kipnis was ranked as Cleveland’s 14th best prospect by BaseballAmerica.
Basically, the designation of “designated for assignment” means that the player is a member of the major-league roster, but is to be sent down to the minor-league affiliate to help them prepare for the possibility of being sent back to the minor leagues if the league has any doubts about the player’s abilities.
What Does it Mean to Option a Baseball Player?
A waiver could remove the player from the team’s roster, or prevent them from being on the roster. The idea is to get rid of a player who is no longer needed but cannot be removed from the roster otherwise.
In the NL, there is a similar concept – the “re-acquire” option, which is used to bring a player back to the roster.
This player was called up after being sent down to Triple-A.
An even more common use of the phrase is in context of a player being called up from a minor league team. For example, a team could have a player start out in Triple-A, then the player could be promoted to the major leagues.
For players who have yet to acquire five full seasons of service time (also known as years of major league service), there are typically three “options” available for the team–however, a fourth may be available if the player doesn’t have enough service time and the three options have already been used. Once a player is optioned for the minor leagues, a team has to wait at least 10 days before calling them back up, which prevents constant back-and-forth shuffling on major league rosters.
In addition, a player can also elect to be placed on the “restricted list” which allows the team to not trade him but prevent him from playing in the majors for the first 60 days of a season.
What Happens when an MLB Player is Released?
A release is when a player is no longer going to be with a team. They are no longer going to play for that team.
You may have noticed that some people are starting to lose weight, whether it’s because of a diet or a change in behavior. At most major league organizations, players begin the spring training with certain expectations of their performance.
 When you have to play a certain player in a certain position, you have to plan for that throughout the entire season. For example, if you want to use your right-handed reliever in a pinch, you might want to leave him off the roster. If you have him on the roster, you might not have a chance to make a trade with a team that needs your position.
Conclusion on Designated for Assignment in Baseball
The Cardinals have an obligation to the fans of St. Louis to put together the best team possible and put it in the field each and every day. This means that players will be bought and sold, traded and released. Sometimes it happens because the player’s skills are not up to expectations. Sometimes it happens because the team is winning and it makes better sense to put a different player on the field. Sometimes it happens because the player and the team simply don’t see eye to eye in a particular situation. The team’s job is to put a quality team with the best chemistry on the field every single day.
