NFBC Message Boards

Hi guys,



Got a question for position elgibility, player in question Bill Hall of Milwaukee, he has appeared in 5 games at 2b and 11 games at SS, further research shows he has played a total of 23 games (career) at 2B. He played 18 at 2B last year, yet he came up on the free agent pool as a 2b baseman not SS. How is he elgible at 2B? Not complaining just would like to know he qualifies for 2B duty.

Hey Legend, this is from our Rules section:



"All players must have played 20 games in 2003 or 20 games in 2004 to qualify at a certain position. Minor-leaguers who did not play 20 games at any position in 2003 but who still played at least one game in the majors last year, will qualify at the position they played the most at in 2003. If a prospect didn't play at least one game in the majors last year and he makes the 2004 Opening Day roster, he will qualify at the position he played the most at in the minors in 2003. Any minor-leaguer who didn't play any games in the majors in 2003 and who starts the 2004 season in the minors will earn position eligibility for 2004 based on his minor-league games played total in 2004 and he will earn other position eligibility after he plays 20 games at a different position in the majors."

Would you possibly reconsider the assignment of DH-only to Justin Morneau? He played 20 games at first base in AAA before coming up to the Twins this year. He played a ton of games at 1B at AAA last year....



Essentially, the rule diminishes Morneau's value for 2004 because he had a few appearances at DH during a brief stay in the majors in 2003. It seems incongruous that his value would be diminished because he had a brief call-up last year.

Among the rules that should be examined closely prior to next season should be the position eligibility of players. I would think that there could be some "reasonableness' tests applied PRIOR to the start of the season especially for players who got a late season look-see. That said, adding to an existing player's eligibility after the season begins for any reason other than playing twenty games at a position would be unfair to all those teams that drafted or made free agent claims at least partialy based on the player's position eligibility.

Originally posted by Doug Loman All-Stars:

Would you possibly reconsider the assignment of DH-only to Justin Morneau? He played 20 games at first base in AAA before coming up to the Twins this year. He played a ton of games at 1B at AAA last year....



Essentially, the rule diminishes Morneau's value for 2004 because he had a few appearances at DH during a brief stay in the majors in 2003. It seems incongruous that his value would be diminished because he had a brief call-up last year. Doug, we're not going to re-assign eligibility to players once the season has begun. But we do want to hear all of your feedback about this and any other issue and we'll definitely take everyone's comments into consideration as we look to make the NFBC bigger and better in the years to come.