Options can decide which Royals stay and which ones go

SURPRISE, Ariz. | Joey Gathright knows the trap that options present. He knows first-hand that it doesn’t always matter what happens on the field in spring training; knows, too, that he doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.

Gathright is out of options, finally, as he enters his seventh professional season. That means he can’t be shipped to the minors without clearing waivers; without giving every other team the chance to find a place for him on its big-league roster.

“It’s a good thing to have behind you,” he said. “You don’t know what is going to happen, but it’s a comfortable feeling knowing that you’ll probably be in the big leagues.”

Gathright batted .370 a year ago in 21 spring games but opened the season at Class AAA Omaha, primarily because he had an option remaining. That made him the odd man out when the Royals failed in efforts to trade veteran Reggie Sanders.

It is a scenario repeated each spring in every big-league camp. Who stays and who goes often depends on who has options remaining.

Not for everyone, of course. It isn’t likely to matter that Alex Gordon and Brian Bannister have options remaining. But options can be the decisive factor for those on the bubble — reserves, middle relievers and back-of-the-rotation candidates.

“Those are factors,” manager Trey Hillman admitted. “They don’t play into my (on-field) decisions, but they have to weigh into the discussion (in selecting a roster).”

It is technical stuff with most rules having exceptions, but options are often the reason for club decisions that otherwise seem odd or even inexplicable. The Royals are facing several roster issues this spring in which options are likely to be a factor.

Gathright isn’t completely in the clear, either. He has an outright assignment available. More on that in a bit. For now, let’s stick with options:

•First baseman Ryan Shealy has an option, but utilityman Esteban German does not. If the two are battling for the final roster spot, as seems possible, that favors German.

•Relievers Ryan Braun, Neal Musser and Joel Peralta have options remaining. Leo Nuñez does not. Nor does Jimmy Gobble. That suggests Gobble is likely to make the club even if he suffers through a rough spring. It also gives Nuñez a tie-breaker advantage over the three others.

•Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa is out of options. So he either pitches his way onto the ballclub through a crowded field of rotation candidates or he probably heads elsewhere.

•First baseman Justin Huber is also out of options. Injuries slowed his development in the two years since he won the Class AA Texas League batting title with a .343 average at Wichita. But he is still just 25 and showed growing power last year with 18 homers in 286 at-bats at Class AAA Omaha. Even so, unless he beats long odds and makes the club, he figures to be placed on waivers.

“I understand that it’s not only a game but also a business,” Huber said. “I’m not going to get my feelings hurt either way. There is some uncertainty, but you can’t sit around worrying about what decision they’re going to make or whether they like me or don’t like me or whatever.”

Options are a negotiated element of baseball’s labor agreement. In shorthand form, they work like this:

•Once a player is placed on a club’s 40-man roster, he can be moved to the minor leagues through an optional assignment (options) without being exposed to the 29 other clubs.

•A player is subject to three option years in his career. A player can be shuttled back and forth between the majors and minors any number of times in a single year, but it counts as only one option.

•The option years need not be consecutive. If a player spends an entire season in the big leagues, he does not use an option year. But once a player has five or more years of big-league service, he cannot be assigned to the minors without his written consent.

•An option is not used if a player spends less than 20 total days in the minors in the course of a single season. Time spent in the minors on injury rehabilitation assignments does not count.

Players are also subject to one mandatory outright assignment to the minors if they clear waivers and have fewer than three full years of major-league service. This is an asterisk in Gathright’s situation; he has never been outrighted.

Those with three or more years of service, or who have already been outrighted in their career, can choose to become free agents by refusing the assignment.

Whether a player has an outright assignment available often plays a factor in when he is sent through waivers. Players are more likely to clear waivers in the final week of spring training because many clubs are hesitant to alter their own roster.

Since Huber, Nuñez and Gathright have yet to be outrighted and lack three years of service, they are all likely to be in camp right to the end — even if they underperform — in the hope they can be slipped through waivers.

It can make your head spin.

“This out-of-options business,” Huber said, “I didn’t do much thinking about it in this offseason, to be honest. A lot of it is going to be out of my control. I know that if I play well, then I’ve got a chance.

“I feel that at the end of this six-week stretch that something is going to happen. That’s got to be a positive either way. That’s how I’m going to take it, anyway.”

To reach Bob Dutton, Royals reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4352 or send e-mail to bdutton@kcstar.com