First of all, thanks to Tom Haudricourt for pointing out the error of my first analysis that led to this post.
Yesterday after my first week back in a fourth grade classroom, I read that the Brewers had a) selected the contract of Aaron Wilkerson, b) Designated Yadiel Rivera for assignment and c) Placed Jimmy Nelson on the 10-day Disabled List.
Some of you remember me from my Days of Farmstros when the minutiae of baseball transactions was my "jam". Those days are behind me now as I have moved on to different things. However, after a week of interacting with 9 and 10 and a few 11 year olds all day long, the prospect of pondering baseball transactions and all their intricacies got that part of my brain revved up again. It was a nice blast from the past.
The question that immediately jump up in my cranium was, "Why DFA Yadiel Rivera when it would be simple enough to put Jimmy Nelson on the 60-day Disabled List?"
The answer is rooted in the possibility of Milwaukee making it to the post-season.
Before yesterday, none of the players on the Brewers roster of post-season eligible players was injured. The roster of post-season eligible players is essentially comprised of all players on a team's 40-man roster as of the end of August 31. I think in the Brewers' case, this included everyone on the 40-man roster except for Quintin Berry. Berry was added to the 40-man roster on September 5, when his contract was selected.
Why is this important?
A team that qualifies for the post-season can petition with MLB to replace an injured player who is on the post-season eligibility roster with another player who was in the organization(40-man roster or not) at the end of August 31. The fact that Jimmy Nelson is now injured (and eligible for the post-season roster) means the Brewers could petition to replace him with someone else from their organization assuming they make the post-season.
As I understand it, the replacement is not limited to players added to the 40-man roster in September. It could indeed be Aaron Wilkerson or Quintin Berry. It could also be (within the scope of the rule), Rob Scahill or Michael Blazek or Keston Hiura or Yadiel Rivera. I don't think a pitcher has to be replaced by a pitcher, but I could be wrong about that.
So why not just put Nelson on the 60-day Disabled List?
The upside of putting Nelson on the 60-day DL is that it would open a spot on the 40-man roster for Aaron Wilkerson and Yadiel Rivera stays under complete control. However, there is a catch.
Any player on the 60 day Disabled List has to be on said list for at least 60 days to maintain their post-season eligibility status. This means that if Nelson had been placed on the 60 day DL, he would be removed from the post-season eligibility roster. There would be no potential to petition to replace him on that list with Wilkerson or Scahill or Berry or Hiura or anyone else for that matter.
Having said all this, I will shut down the baseball transaction portion of my brain and go back to using the part that manages 9,10 and 11 year olds. Thanks.
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