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The 2020 Major League season is governed by a 113-page Operations Manual that sets out rules and guidelines for the upcoming season. It covers topics such as medical and testing protocols for COVID-19 in facilities, on field, during travel and Spring Training.
Section 6.1 deals with rosters and transactions. It sets 4 pm today as the deadline for Major League teams to announcing 60-man rosters. Here are the manual’s major provisions governing how that roster breaks down:
Club Player Pool
Each team must generate a 60-person Club Player Pool. The deadline for that is 4 pm today, three days prior to the first day of Spring Training. The Club Player Pool consists of all players on the organization’s 40-man roster and up to 20 non-40-man roster players under contract. Clubs may not exceed the limit of 60 players in the Club Player Pool at any time during Spring Training or the season. Players acquired through trade must be assigned to the 60-man roster.
Active Roster
On Opening Day, each club must submit an Active Roster to MLB with a maximum of 30 and minimum of 25 players. Two weeks later, the Active Roster must be reduced to 28 players. Two weeks after that, the Active Roster must be reduced to 26 players. The limits on the number of pitchers on the Active Roster which had been set prior to the COVID outbreak have been suspended. Rosters will not expand in September.
The Major League Active Roster has been set at 25 players for years. In 2020 it was scheduled to expand to 26, with a limit of 13 pitchers.
Alternative Training Site
Each club must maintain a second baseball facility where the players who are the on the Club Player Pool but not on the Active Roster will train. Players can be assigned to the Alternative Training Site (ATS) starting on the first day of Spring Training. Dick Williams has said he expects to assign about 35 players to training camp at GABP and the remaining 25 or so to the ATS for training.
The Reds have designated Prasco Laboratories in Mason as the secondary site. The facility is home to two fields, Prasco Park (lighted) and Legacy Field. It includes a weight room, training room, cafeteria, meeting rooms and multiple clubhouses. Legacy Field has artificial turf. The facility serves as the home of the Cincinnati Spikes, an amateur traveling baseball team. It’s about a 30-minute drive right down I-71 to GABP.
Assignment Rules
Existing rules governing assignment of players, like optioning, will apply. The ATS will take the place of Minor League clubs for this purpose. Players on the 40-man roster who don’t make the Active Roster must be optioned to the ATS. Players not on the 40-man roster will be treated as assigned to the ATS. Think of the latter group as players not on the 40-man roster who play at AAA-Louisville.
A non-roster player who has been removed from the 60-man roster by way of release or a player has been removed from the 60-man roster by waiver, the removed player may not be added back to the 60-man roster for the remainder of the season.
Taxi Squads
Clubs may take three players who are not on the Active Roster (one of whom must be a catcher to serve as the bullpen catcher) on road trips. These players can either be optioned or non-roster. Those players do not qualify for service time and will be paid at their minor league rate. But they do receive the $108.50 per day meal allowance. They may work out with the Major League club but are not permitted to be in uniform in the dugout during games, other than the bullpen catcher.
Important Deadlines
The Trade Deadline moves from July 31 to August 31. The Postseason Eligibility Date moves from August 31 to September 15.
Bottom line: There will be three groups of players: (1) the active roster of 26-30 players, (2) the remainder of the 40-man roster who will be optioned to the reserve site, and (3) about 20 non-roster players who will also be assigned to the reserve site.
Check back here later today for news and analysis of the Reds selections for their 60-man roster.
