Atlanta Braves 40-man Roster Casualties

40-man Roster Rules, History, and Breakdown

Formerly called the Reserve List, the 40-man roster is, in layman’s terms,  a way for a team to urinate on their territory to claim said territory from the clutches of other teams’ grasps. Prior to September baseball, 25 men at a time get to put the Major League uniform on and roam the fields of Major League stadiums (unless there’s a double header then it bumps to 26!).  That’s the 25-man roster! Yay! Now on to the other 15.

The other 15 players that are lucky enough to be important, yet not lucky enough to be Major Leaguers, are the reserves, and are able to be called to the Major Leagues at any time, receive a pro-rated Major League salary (a month of a prorated Major League salary surpasses a year’s worth of a Minor League salary), and can get shipped out like yesterday’s doughnuts back to the Minors. Although there are a certain amount of days that a player has to stay down in the Minors before being recalled, there’s no limit as to how many times a player can get called up in a year. This can happen to a player for 3 years, then the “option” of moving from MLB to MILB roster is stripped.

But why do players that aren’t Major League Ready get placed on the 40-man Roster? Too easy…protection.  Check out the following explanation from Brew Crew Ball:

"“The eligibility requirements: Players who were 18 or younger on the June 5th preceding the signing of their first pro contract must be added after five minor league seasons. Players who were 19 or older must be added after four minor league seasons.”"

Hope this clears a few things up.  Let’s move on, shall we?