OOTP14 Help Please...

[JudgeDredd]

What exactly do I have to do with Garrett? He's DFA'd - Designated for Assignment...but what exactly does that mean? He's on my 40 man roster. Does DFA mean he's to go in my first team?

[bbmike]

I think it means someone else can go on your roster in his place. You would also have to do something with Garrett as well (trade, demote, release).

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks - but my question was specifically ABOUT Garrett. He's cleared waivers and sitting on DFA (don't ask me how he was on waivers or how he ended up on DFA (I guess I might have had something to do with it...and don't even THINK about asking me what waivers are)...but specifically I was wondering if any baseball aficionados knew what it meant by DFA (Designate for Assignment). As the guy is already on my 40 man roster (but not my 25 man roster) I guess it means I have to put him on my active roster... just looking for confirmation

[GibbyG]

bbmike is correct.  When you DFA a player you are removing him from your 40 man roster and have a certain amount of time to trade, release or assign to the minors.  You may also add him back to the 40 man if you decide not to release him.

Designated for assignment is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball. A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must either:

   *  return the player to the 40-man roster within 10 days from the date of designation, or
    * make one of the following contractual moves:
          - Place the player on waivers (which can only be done within the first 7 days of the 10-day period)
          - Trade the player
          -  Release the player
          -  Outright the player from the 40-man roster into the Minor Leagues

[Nefaro]

What exactly do I have to do with Garrett? He's DFA'd - Designated for Assignment...but what exactly does that mean? He's on my 40 man roster. Does DFA mean he's to go in my first team?

If he is DFA'd (Designated For Assignment), that means he must be placed either on your starter team or in a minor league team (if possible).   You can do this in the DFA tab in the same area where you drag & drop your players between teams.  It means he's in limbo and you only have a limited amount of time before you're required to make a decision on where to put him.

The 40-man roster isn't it's own team.  It's a mix of your MLB roster and the extra players you have in the minors earning major league contracts and ready to be used as replacements.  They all have major league contracts, but don't necessarily all play on the Majors starting roster.  So even if you have a player on the 40-man roster, he must also be located in a major or minor league team. 

Be warned that if you trade for a major leaguer, you'll be required to have him on either your MLB starter list or the 40-man roster, IIRC.  So if you trade for someone with a major league contract, make sure you have room for him because you'll have to use him there, for awhile. 

Edit:  Looks like Challerain summed up your options as well as can be done.  :)  Just remember that if you place a player on waivers, other teams will have a chance to snatch him from you.  If he's a good player, he may get taken by someone else.  I only use it for sending mediocre Majors players back to the Minors after they've covered for a better player's injuries and such.  There is also a limit to how many years you can send Majors players back to the minors so take that into account when you're looking at someone as a potential depth player.

[Nefaro]

To get a better picture of all these contractual details, I originally went through the online manual and wrote all the specific detailed numbers down on a sheet of paper for easy reference.  It helped memorize the stuff after referring to it a few times.

[JudgeDredd]

Thank you.

So I had to put him on the Active Roster - which meant demoting someone to the AAA. No big deal I suppose as the one I demoted was not as good as Garrett anyway.

I find the rules a bit confusing. It's just not as simple as football. Buy players, sell others, swap players in and out of your 11 man squad. If a guy is injured, he's just injured....stick someone in his place until he's better...end of.

Waivers, designate for assignment, irrevocable waivers, disabled list, 40 man roster, 25 man active roster, AAA, AA, A, minor leagues.....