Rules change suggestion re major league debuts

[Oakland A's]

To use Abraham Toro from today as an example, in another league I'm in we have a process that works well: when a player like Toro that isn't already on a roster in our league is called up to the majors in real life he can't be picked up yet in our league even once his minor league flag is removed. Rather, each Sunday night all available players are put on waivers and anyone who made their MLB debut that week leading up to and including Sunday is eligible to be claimed via the Sunday night waiver. To be eligible for claiming, a player making their MLB debut must have had at least one AB (hitters) or one batter faced (pitchers) in the Monday thru Sunday games that week. So Toro, assuming he has at least one AB this week, would go to the team with the best claim slot that puts in a claim for him.

You can easily track MLB debuts via ESPN for one example:  www.espn.com/mlb/debuts

This way is fairer IMO, and adds some strategy to the process. For ex, if you have a really good waiver slot, you need to decide whether to use it on a decent prospect that week and be set back to last in order, or save it for a future week when a potentially more valuable prospect (like Toro say) becomes available. 

[St.Louis Cardinals]

I agree the system should be changed, but disagree with OAK's system.

I think we should drop having to wait for the flag to be removed all together. I think we should be able to pick up prospects as soon as a reputable source notes their promotion. With that, we could outline what sources would be considered reputable and make it a rule that you must cite that source. Im tired of having to wait for a green flag to be removed. So much so that I literally was having to refresh my page at work all day today waiting for Toro's flag to be removed. I had to do that because i have lost out on so many prospects waiting for rotowire to make the damn change. A change that is not consistent. It could be 1 hour, or like today, in upwards of 8 hours.

My problem with what Oakland suggests is that it rewards people for just checking in once a week. We should reward people for being involved. The fairest way is that the first person who is able to make the claim should obtain ownership. No owner should be able to check baseball news on just a Sat to make a claim Sunday. Maybe I wouldn't have got Toro had my suggestion been put into place, but at-least I would know that somebody got him because they were paying more attention at the time when it mattered. rather than because they got lucky when the flag was removed or because they check the news Saturday and have a worse record.

Just my 2 cents, but either way I agree that the current system is not good. It is based more in luck than in skill or dedication.

[New York Yankees]

Hey all,

I'm definitely open to improving the rule for debut callups. I agree that it's tricky to find a good way to manage this, and the current way (waiting for the green flag to be removed) is certainly not perfect, but maybe we can take a longer look at handling these types of claims and come up with something that makes sense for the league. We can look into this more during the off season.

[Houston Astros]

Well, we know there were at least 3 teams watching for Toro's green flag to disappear.

I agree the system could use some improvement. The current arrangement favors managers with the most flexible job (or no job at all), who can hit the refresh on their phones the most frequently. I disagree with STL approach, it will still reward the person who scrambles to find the first "reputable source", plus it adds the headache of determining what constitutes a reputable source. At least the current system has everyone looking at the same source.

Fantrax supports bidding, priority order claims or first-come-first-served for free agents; I believe all three options are supported in the free version. If we use bidding or priority claims, they will affect all FA pick-ups, not just debutantes. So I would suggest daily processing, either by bidding or priority order. That would still reward managers who pay attention daily, with minimal slow-down to veteran pick-ups. And it would level the playing field for guys whose jobs don't allow them to constantly check in during the day.

I would point out that our in-season prospect pick-ups allow us to avoid this dilemma if we choose to use them that way, as was done with Urquidy and Gonsolin earlier in the season.

[St.Louis Cardinals]

Well my job isn't that flexible but after losing so many players I decided I would find a way lol. That is why I claimed Urquidy before his promotion last time. Toro is really the first promotion I have been able to get because of the green flag rule. With my suggestion though, my point was that we would predetermine what sources are trusted. Or even just say that Fantrax must update the news on the playercard. At this point though, anything is better than the green flag system. I 100% would have been pissed if I didn't get Toro after having lost out on so many others.

I really don't want to see bidding and priority claims. I don't like rewarding teams with lower records or people who check before waivers clear.

If anything I would say we just open up Minor league free agency completely. Allow teams to add and drop minor league players just as MLB. I don't see how that would be a bad thing. That way if Oakland liked what he was seeing from Toro before any of us then he could claim him. If a owner is able to assess talent ahead of the rest of us, then they should be rewarded. The way we can then help to limit that is cap all free agent acquisitions. So say we cap everyone at 100 pick ups (just an example). Owners will be more likely to save those picks for MLB players throughout the season. Teams in the hunt will also be less likely to make MiLB claims down the stretch but will naturally allow teams near the bottom to acquire more talent. It also work towards teams from streaming players as much.

[Oakland A's]

1st of all, props to St Louis for getting Toro. You earned him with all that refreshing!

Referring to something Houston said, maybe we could put each MLB debut player on waivers individually, as soon as they make their 1st appearance, whatever day that is. This would certainly lead to more checking in during the week. 

Anyways I think the claim system is fair and doesn't favor bad/mismanaged teams. While a bad team may start the season with the best claim, that advantage is gone for good the moment they actually use that claim and are sent to the back of the line.

Obviously this is an issue to be settled in the off-season as the commish said. Just wanted to put my 2 cents in and have others weigh in.