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Minor League Option Years
As part of a player's rights in professional baseball, there is another concept known as minor league option years. Option years are designed to give minor league players some relief from being jerked around by callous general managers indefinitely. In OOTP, minor league options can be enabled or disabled in the Roster Rules section of the Rules page during game creation, or after game creation by navigating to OOTP Menu | Game Setup | League Setup tab | Rules tab. Somewhat obviously, if your league does not have affiliated minor leagues, there are no minor league option years.
Note that for fictional leagues, players generated in the inaugural draft will have a random number of minor league option years. Don't assume that everyone has 3 since you just started the league!
Once a minor league option has been triggered for a player (the player has been "optioned to the minors"), the option stays in effect all season. This optional assignment, or 'option,' gives the team the right to freely move the player from the minors to the active roster and back again, as many times as desired, for the remainder of the current season. However, since each player has only three 'option years,' once a player is placed on the secondary roster, the team has only three seasons to send that player up and down from the majors to the minors without any restriction. Of course, the option years do not all necessarily have to be used sequentially. For example, a player might be on optional assignment one year, then waived and removed from the secondary and demoted to the minors. He could then spend the next 3 years in the minors without ever making it onto the secondary roster, and therefore without using an option. A player who spends the entire season on the parent league team also does not use an option.
How Minor League Option Years Work
Players start out with 3 minor league option years. As soon as a player spends one day on the secondary roster without being on the active roster, he is considered to be on 'optional assignment.' The moment the player has spent one day in this scenario, he uses one of his three minor league options. A player's minor league options years are visible on the Contract & Status subpage of the Player Profile.
Note that for fictional leagues, players generated in the inaugural draft will have a random number of minor league option years. Don't assume that everyone has 3 since you just started the league!
Once a minor league option has been triggered for a player (the player has been "optioned to the minors"), the option stays in effect all season. This optional assignment, or 'option,' gives the team the right to freely move the player from the minors to the active roster and back again, as many times as desired, for the remainder of the current season. However, since each player has only three 'option years,' once a player is placed on the secondary roster, the team has only three seasons to send that player up and down from the majors to the minors without any restriction. Of course, the option years do not all necessarily have to be used sequentially. For example, a player might be on optional assignment one year, then waived and removed from the secondary and demoted to the minors. He could then spend the next 3 years in the minors without ever making it onto the secondary roster, and therefore without using an option. A player who spends the entire season on the parent league team also does not use an option.
