Every spring, there are several debates about whether a team should open their season with a super-phenom prospect on the active roster, or whether the team should hold the player down for a while in the minor leagues. The discussion centers around service time, which is simply a counter of how long a player has played at the MLB level. Currently, Atlanta Braves fans are having this very discussion about über prospect Ronald Acuna. Acuna destroyed the minor leagues at each level he played at in 2016, and a good spring training could force the team’s hand in deciding whether to start him in the minor leagues or to place him on the big league roster. But what is service time? And why is it important?
What Is Service Time?
Service time is simply the number of years and days a player has been on an active big league roster, or on a qualifying reserve list. Beginning with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in December 2016, a major league season is at least 182 days in length, but not longer than 187 days. A full major league season of service time accrues after 172 days. Players can accrue 172 days in a full season, but no more, even if they are active for every day of the season.
Players accrue time during the regular season only. Days spent with the team during Spring Training, the playoffs, and the World Series do not count towards time. The exception is for any players on the active roster or eligible reserve list of any team that plays a game that MLB considers a regular season game, even if it occurs while other teams are still participating in Spring Training. For example, MLB showcase games in Australia or Japan often happen during the last several days of Spring Training for most teams. MLB considers these games regular season games for the teams participating in them, and as such, those payers accrue service time for the game (and travel days).
Service time is often expressed as a decimal, such as 2.171 (two years, 171 days).
Who Can Accrue Service Time:
Players accumulate one day of service time for every day they are on one of the following:
- 25-man Active Roster;
- 7-Day Disabled List;
- 10-Day Disabled List;
- 60-Day Disabled List;
- Paternity List;
- Bereavement List;
- Suspended List;
- Military List;
- Medical Emergency List;
- Restricted List, if for first or second violation of banned substances AND suspension is 20 games or fewer, or if for violation of MLB’s domestic abuse policy.
Players on the DL and then sent on minor league rehabilitation assignments are still considered on the DL for the purposes of accumulating MLB time.
A player does not accrue service time for any time he is on the Disqualified List, Ineligible List, or Voluntary Retired List, or for time spent on the Restricted List for any reason other than a banned substance or domestic violence violation.
If a team trades a player during the season, he continues to accumulate service time for the period after the trade but before reporting to his new team.
Players who are Designated For Assignment during the season continue to accumulate service time for the full period he is Designated For Assignment (while the team attempts to work a trade, or works on his release, etc.). A player Designated For Assignment before the start of the MLB regular season does not accrue service time, even if the DFA “limbo period” extends into the regular season.
Players optioned to the minors during the season do not accrue a day of service time on the day of the option, unless the assignment occurs during or after his team’s game for the day. If a team promotes a player from the minors during the season, the player accrues service time for the day of the callup. Players optioned to the minors during the year do not accrue service time for any days spent in the minors. However, any optional assignment of fewer than 20 days in a season continues to accrue MLB service time. If a player spends more than 21 days on optional assignment in a season, then none of the optional assignment days count for service time purposes.
The Braves have had an interesting case recently. Reliever Daniel Winkler qualified for arbitration with three years of service time, despite only appearing in 21 games since his September 2015 debut. Due to a couple of horrific injuries, Winkler has accumulated nearly all of his MLB service time while on the DL.
Why Service Time?
MLB and the MLBPA devised the service time system as a way of determining player eligibility for all sorts of benefits:
- Health Care Plan eligibility (for life) begins with one day of service time;
- Pension eligibility fully vests at 43 days of service time, which gains the player $34,000 annually at age 62, with more paid out based on salary, service time, and retirement age;
- Players qualifying as a Super Two can choose to become free agents if outrighted the season following qualifying as Super Two;
- A player becomes eligible for arbitration after three years of service time (and less, in the cases of a Super Two);
- Players with three years of service time who have been outrighted to the minors once before can refuse a successive outright assignment and elect free agency;
- After five years of accrued MLB service time, a player on a 40-man roster can refuse an outright minor league assignment and instead choose free agency;
- Players earn free agency after six years of accrued service time;
- Full no-trade protection vests when a player has 10 years of service time in the MLB, with the last five years earned with the same team (“10 & 5 rights”).
Player 10 & 5 rights reset with a trade to a new team, as happened when Brandon Phillips came over from the Cincinnati Reds to the Atlanta Braves last year. Phillips qualified for full no-trade protection based on having 10 years of service time in MLB as a whole, with the last 5+ years as a Red. Upon his trade to Atlanta, Phillips lost his 10 & 5 rights, as he was now less than 5 years with his current team, though he still maintained a limited no-trade clause that was present in his contract.
What is a Super Two?
A Super Two player is a player who has qualified for arbitration eligibility before three years of service time. The exact amount of service time required for a Super Two player varies from year to year, as it requires being in the top 22% (formerly top 17%) of players in MLB with at least 2.000 but fewer than 3.001 days of service time. As a general rule, players with around 2.130 years of service time qualify as Super Two. Here are the service times required to qualify for Super Two for the last several years, per MLB Trade Rumors:
- 2017: 2.123
- 2016: 2.131
- 2015: 2.130
- 2014: 2.133
- 2013: 2.122
- 2012: 2.140
- 2011: 2.146
- 2010: 2.122
- 2009: 2.139
Qualifying as a Super Two is very beneficial for a player, as it allows him to begin negotiating his salary a year sooner. Since the salary in the Super Two year is likely higher than a salary after a non-Super Two second year, successive arbitration awards and/or salaries will be larger, as well. FanGraphs once estimated that a player reaching Super Two status can expect to make an average of $3 Million more than a non-Super Two player during his control years. As a result, teams have often held down a player that they expect to be a star for long enough to avoid the Super Two cutoff (typically after about 65 days, or right around the first week of June).
This year, the Atlanta Braves had one player qualify as a Super Two – starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz. Last season, reliever Arodys Vizcaino qualified as a Super Two.
Pros and Cons of Service Time
Because teams have control over players for six years, they will sometimes delay promoting a player until 21 days after the season starts. This allows them to have the benefit of the player for almost all of his rookie season, while also not letting him accrue a full season of service time. This effectively gives the team seven calendar years of control of a player. This famously happened with the Chicago Cubs and Kris Bryant, and the Cubs received some fairly negative backlash and PR. However, while it is sometimes blatantly obvious what the team is doing, there is nothing wrong with it from a rules standpoint, and the players’ own representatives (the MLBPA) negotiated the deal for them.
Also, because young, controllable players cost less salary than older free agents, teams often pass up on quality players, or trade quality veterans, so that they can accumulate more young, controllable talent. This leads to teams with lower payrolls, but also potentially less talented teams. It’s good for business in one respect (lower payroll), but bad for another (lower quality product).
Players benefit from the system, too. Service time considerations dictate how a team must handle a player. Arbitration allows players to have limited negotiation rights for his skills. And veteran players with a certain service time have more control over where teams can send them.
Personally, I would like to see a change to the system, perhaps doing away with arbitration altogether, and allowing free agency after four years. Regardless, while the system is flawed and can be manipulated, it is far better than what once existed, when players were effectively the property of a team for life.
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