Position eligibility

hankstr · Post by **hankstr** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 6:43 am

Greg,

An obvious question but I want it spelled out for me anyway:

A guy coming over from Japan (or Eritrea or Moldova) would qualify at the position he played in his country right? The rules specifically talked about minor leaguers but not international players coming to the MLB. I don't want to make the wrong assumption. Thanks!

Hank

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 11:05 am

Yes, you are correct. In fact, I'm going to supply a post this week that deals with certain players who didn't play 20 games at any position last year. Freddy Sanchez comes to mind as he played the most games last year at third base and will qualify only at that position to open the season, even though he's competing for the second base job in Pittsburgh. I want to make that post to clarify where Sanchez, Kaz Matsui and other players qualify at so that everyone is on the same page come Draft Day. Thanks for the question.

Top Dawg · Post by **Top Dawg** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:44 am

Greg - It sounds like you are thinking about making a player eligible at the position he played at in another country or the one he played at most last year if none at 20 games anywhere. I thought perhaps they would only qualify at utility until they played 20 games at a position in 2004. This will be very key in many of us doing our draft rankings. Freddy Sanchez, who did not play 20 anywhere will raise several questions if he is allowed to be drafted and started week one at the position he's going to play this year or the one he played most at last year. Next, someone will ask about a player who played one game at 1b or catcher and the rest of the year was a DH. I might suggest you keep the rule at 20 games last year or else utility until qualified at a position this year. Maybe an exception for professionals moving to the US from other countries....maybe.

Best regards,

Pete

Top Dawg · Post by **Top Dawg** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:02 am

Greg - Well, you really do learn something new every day. I just read the rules again and saw that minor leaguers will qualify at the position they played most at last year, and not need a 20 game requirement. Now for a "stupid" qusetion...

Does this mean games played in the minors or does this mean minor leaguers who were brought up to the majors last year and played a few major league qames at a position? In other words, will "real" rookies qualify immediately at the position they played in the minors if they never played a major league game? Sorry for the dumb questions.

Thanks,

Pete

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:19 am

No, it's a good question. I need to clarify that even more as it means anyone who did not play in the majors last year (no games at all) will qualify at the position they played at in the minors. So Joe Mauer qualifies at catcher. Terrmel Sledge qualifies in the outfield. But someone like Freddy Sanchez who didn't play 20 or more games at any position but still spent some time in the majors qualifies at the position he played at the most in the majors, which was third base. I will go through a list in the next day or two and clarify everything here. I want everyone to be on the same page when it comes to this.

As for foreign players like Kaz Matsui, he qualifies at shortstop because not only did he play there in Japan but he is scheduled to play there this year for the Mets. Shingo Takatsu and Akinori Otsuka both are pitchers, so there's no dilemma there.

This is fair and simple and we'll define every player for you.

[ February 11, 2004, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]