Content deleted Content added
Add short description Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
|||
Line 6:
For purposes of salary arbitration and free agency, a player acquires a year of service time if the player remains on the major league roster for at least 172 days of a typical 187-day season. Players may either be active, meaning that they are eligible to play in games, or on the [[injured list]]. If a player is on the major league roster for 171 or fewer days, they do not earn a year of service time, and partial years cannot be combined.<ref name="cbssports-2021-03">{{cite news |last1=Perry |first1=Dayn |title=MLB service-time manipulation: Why longstanding baseball practice is a major issue in 2021 |url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-service-time-manipulation-why-longstanding-baseball-practice-is-a-major-issue-in-2021/ |access-date=May 11, 2022 |work=CBS Sports |date=March 2, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Six years of service time is a key metric for eligibility for free agency. Commentators have noted that the rules of service time create a [[perverse incentive]] for teams to avoid putting their best players on the major league roster for the entire season to save money and to retain control over their players.<ref name="azpbs-2021-05">{{cite news |last1=Johnston |first1=James |title=Service time manipulation: Why MLB teams wait to call up prospects |url=https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2021/05/17/service-time-manipulation-debate-rages-as-mlb-teams-hold-off-on-bringing-up-top-prospects/ |access-date=May 11, 2022 |work=Cronkite News |date=May 17, 2021}}</ref>
After several high profile examples of service time manipulation had been alleged in the 2010s and 2020s, MLB's new [[collective bargaining agreement]] to end the [[2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout|2021–22 lockout]] included provisions to increase service time eligibility. The
==Examples==
| |||