I neglected to include in our free agent list the following players DFA’d by their EFL teams before Mar 1:
Cody Asche (formerly a Rosebud)
Travis Snider, Tyler Matzek, Jarrod Parker, and Alex Torres (formerly Drives).
AJ Cole was also DFA’d late in February, but was subsequently traded to Old Detroit. The others may also be traded, up until the time they are drafted in the Free Agent Draft, or their former team turns in its Opening Day roster allocations (which, of course, cannot include any players DFA’d by that team — unless they draft them back in the FA draft).
One note: The rules require that you have active on your roster players to cover every defensive position 2-deep (5-deep for the entire outfield, 5-deep for starting pitchers; 10-deep for all pitchers, 12-deep for all position players, and 25-deep overall). You might be tempted to sign a player just to cover a position even though you’d never want him to play. Just remember the rules state that to be active, a player must be allocated at least for at least 33% of his actual plate appearances (or innings pitched).
So signing Ichiro as your 5th outfielder means you’ll have to allocate him at 33%. If he has 60 plate appearances a month in MLB, you’ll be using 20 of those at least. If a player is just going to get your roster qualified, it might be better to draft someone who will be in the minors for his MLB team (or on the DL, or go unsigned) so he can’t hurt you by actually playing. Allocating 33% of 0 PA sticks you with 0 PA.
I’m not saying you should always ignore those risky active players to draft players who’ll spend all year safely tucked away in the minors. This would only be good advice when you are getting desperate to field a legal roster.
Not that this is going to happen to anyone, of course.
Brought to you by the EFL Commissioners Office.