Giants must adjust to MLB rule limiting player options

By the end of last season, Jason Vosler had accrued an ungodly number of Marriott points. You could do the math by looking at his transactions. Called up to the majors one day, optioned back to Triple-A the next.

He could take a wellearned winter vacation, one perk of logging more trips back and forth on I-80 between San Francisco and Sacramento than any other player in the Giants organization.

“No matter where I was, I was living in a hotel,” said Vosler, who made the pilgrimage 14 times — optioned seven times — including seven stints in either location of less than a week, and, yes, as short as one day. “The hotel managers at each spot knew who I was and when I was coming and that I might be leaving early . ... I was a hotel guy all year.”

The 28-year-old utilityman was one of four Giants last season whose usage would have had to be re-evaluated under a rule introduced this year in MLB's new collective bargaining agreement that requires the team to put a player on waivers after the fifth time he is optioned. Another five Giants came within one option of the new limit, a total of nine players optioned at least four times, more than any other team in the major leagues, according to a league-wide analysis by The Athletic.

Minor league options, in brief: Players have three “option years” once they are added to the 40-man roster, allowing teams to send them to the minors without exposing them to waivers. Until this year, teams were totally unchecked in the number of times they could send players up and down over the course of a season — as long as they had options — a loophole of sorts that smart teams began to expose.

By churning through 54 players, the Giants were able to win a franchise-record 107 games, patching holes in their lineup and keeping the major league pitching staff fresh and effective enough to maintain the second-best ERA in the majors through the end of the season. The rule is primarily targeted at teams — like the Giants — who have used minor league assignments to rest major league arms.

For Sam Long, assignments to Sacramento at least meant a home-cooked meal. Good thing, too. Long, who was born in Fair Oaks and attended Sacramento State, was optioned five times, more than anyone else on the pitching staff, all squeezed into the second half of the season. One day in August he was called up, drove 90 minutes down I-80 and pitched two innings that night. The next day, he was driving back to Sacramento. A month later, he went through the same cycle — the call, the commute, one appearance, and back on the road the next day.

The trips became so frequent that Long found ways to break up the drive. A fishing boat store in Dixon, about 30 minutes outside Sacramento, was Long's destination of choice, allowing him to daydream about owning one someday. For now, still making the major league minimum salary, he is satisfied with the kayak he bought this offseason.

“It's just the little things that help you cope with it,” he said.

Long was hardly alone. A Sports Illustrated analysis showed that the number of pitchers used in 2021 had grown by 25% from a decade ago, and that teams were using one pitcher for every 4.5 games, almost twice the rate they cycled through arms 30 years ago.

Long also wasn't the worst case. Dodgers reliever Mitch White, a graduate of Bellarmine Prep (San Jose), was optioned 16 times. The Rays gave relievers Louis Head (12 options) and Chris Mazza (10 options) the same treatment, as did the Yankees with Albert Abreu (13 options).

“It might have us be less aggressive from time to time,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.

The new rule doesn't take effect until May 1, when rosters are decreased to their normal size, which should help ease the burden on teams such as the Giants. But they can't avoid the fact that many of the most frequent members of the I-80 shuttle aren't eligible to do it again this season, either out of options (Thairo Estrada, Mauricio Dubon) or out of the organization entirely. They will have to find a new rotating support cast and more carefully plan around the five-option limit.

Long, Duggar and John Brebbia are three players with options left who could serve similar roles this season. Other candidates include utilityman Luke Williams, outfielders Luis Gonzalez, Austin Dean, Jaylin Davis and Ka'ai Tom, and pitchers Jakob Junis, Kervin Castro and Gregory Santos.

But the new rule could have downstream effects, which concern Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.

“I completely understand the intent. It's not a fun thing for guys to be going back and forth,” Zaidi said.

When the Giants call up a player, they always give him the choice to decline the promotion. But that has happened only one time Zaidi can remember. It's how the rule could impact the decision-making on calling up players that concerns Zaidi.

“The second or third time you're calling a guy up, does it impact things? Are you more likely to spread out the opportunities than call up the player that in a vacuum is most deserving?” Zaidi said.