Braves Post Season Roster Eligibility

Filling out the lineup card in playoffs depends on the roaster Photo Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

The Post season roster is always a hot topic and the rules can be a bit confusing and this morning a reader -nice to know I have at least one – had a question about it. So I thought I’d answer his question and perhaps that of others here.

The Original Roster

No Later than  August 31 the Braves had to send a list of post season roster names to the Commissioner’s office. That list included the

• 25 man or active roster,
• the 15 and 60 day disabled list
• the bereavement list and
• the suspended list.

According to MLB.com that list would have looked like this.

** Gattis was optioned to Gwinnett on 8/31/13 and Jose Constanza recalled. I’m assuming that the Braves included Gattis instead of Constanza. If not they will have to make a roster move to fix that.

Anyone on those lists is eligible for post season play without exception. Of course things can change pretty quickly as we’ve found all too often this year. Just to make things interesting, if a player on an Aug. 31 active roster does not make a playoff roster, he has to be optioned, designated for assignment if there are no options remaining or placed on a disabled list.  For example if Loe isn’t selected as seems likely, he must be DFA or DL because he is out of options.

What Changes Can be Made and How

Because life happens these rosters are rarely the final answer. Here are some of the ways changes can be made.

If a player on the 60 day DL is unable to play (Tim Hudson) he can be replaced by any player in the organization even if that player was not included in the original list. This how players on the 40 man roster are chosen for post season even if there weren’t with the big club on August 31 (Freddy Garcia for example.) As I noted above two such changes were made; Pena on 9/1 to bring Garcia up and Hudson 0n 9/3 to recall Kameron Loe.  Players on the 40 man roster who were in the minor leagues cannot be used like that; well technically anyway but like all rules there is a way around it.

Easily Moveable Pieces

The remaining 40 man roster looks like this.

Garcia and Loe can be added to the post season roster because of the moves I listed. Let’s say the Braves wanted to add David Hale.  The most likely way to do that would be to move Beachy to the 60 day DL and simply slot Hale into that hole.  I know everyone wants Beachy to be ready to go but that is less likely every day. If they were to want to add Lucas Sims for example  they could but he would then have to be added to the 40 man roster. Doing that complicates things as Alan explained because it affects what GMs can do in the off season. Remember too that every playoff series has its own 25 man roster so the brain trust must use it wisely.

• If a player is injured prior to a playoff series he can of course be replaced. he is not eligible for that series but could be reinstated for the next.
• If a player is injured during a series he can be replaced but is not eligible for the next series.

That’s A Wrap

The roster remains a largely ignored thing during the season but comes into sharp focus in the post season. I hope this answers the questions I received and clears up the way things work. Before that we have to secure home field advantage and that means we have to win games. Resting players is fine but our home road record shows home field is important to use and the payers can rest in the three days before the NLDS starts.