To be clear: I’m not even saying the phenomenon referred to in the title even needs a fix. Maybe, if you’re a fringy utility player or hurler, it’s just your lot in life to change teams five teams before you suit up in a Spring Training uniform during the upcoming season. Still, it seems kind of … if not inhumane, perhaps dehumanizing. A little bit, no?
Setting that aside, let’s assume you did want to fix the phenomenon of guys getting DFAed, claimed on waivers, and DFAed all over again, all offseason
long. How would you do it? There are a lot of ways that really constrain team roster flexibility, i.e., “a player claimed on waivers can’t be waived again for another month” or whatever. That would “solve” the problem to some extent, and players would have a bit more freedom of choice as they cleared waivers and got released/rejected outright assignments. But, with no guarantee of a 40-man assignment, maybe it’s better for players if there aren’t restrictions.
So, what do ya got? Can you think of a way to fix this maybe-an-issue-maybe-not that wouldn’t basically blow back on the same players that are getting shuttled around the continent to an absurd degree every winter?
