The traditional Major League Baseball All-Star game is played today; an exhibition type game where the best of the National League plays against the best of the American League.
The game also signals the halfway mark of the season and an opportune time to assess how the Australian players have done so far this season in the major leagues.
Before we get into that it would probably help to give a brief explanation of some of the terminology used in baseball circles, as the way that players are put on or off the playing roster and moved between teams is unusual to us and the terminology takes some getting used to. It can get complicated but the basic idea is as follows:
Each team has a 25-man roster of players eligible to play any games. There is also a 40-man roster which includes the 25-man roster and players who are injured or in the team’s minor league system who have major league contracts.
Designated for assignment:
When a player is removed from the 40-man roster. When this happens the team has 10 days to do one of the following:
– trade the player
– release the player
– put the player on waivers.
Put on waivers:
If a player is waived then any team can claim him. If he is claimed then a couple of things could happen:
– a trade could be arranged
– the claim could be rejected and the player put back on the teams 40-man roster
– the claiming team could get the player and take over his contract.
– if none of the above happens then the player is said to have cleared waivers and is removed from the 40-man roster to be sent down (outrighted) to the minor leagues. The player is still paid according to his Major League contract.
Here is where the Aussies are at:
Rich Thompson:
The right-handed reliever did not have a good start to the season, failing to impress the manager and front office. He was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Angels in April and claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics.
He was then designated for assignment by the Athletics and outrighted to an Athletics AAA affiliate team and has been playing in AAA since then.
If he performs well then there is every chance that he will be recalled to the Majors.
Peter Moylan:
Has recently started rehab appearances in the minor leagues to fully test his right shoulder after undergoing surgery last year.
If all goes well he should be back playing for the Atlanta Braves later on in the year.
Grant Balfour:
The veteran has performed well so far this season for the Oakland Athletics. There are regular rumours about the pitcher being traded to another team in the near future.
Josh Spence:
Appeared in eleven games posting reasonable returns but the San Diego Padres have optioned him to a AAA team to make space on the roster for another player returning from injury.
Spence could be called back to the Padres at some stage this year.
Luke Hughes:
After a promising spring training things have not gone as the third-baseman would have liked.
The Minnesota Twins designated him for assignment and he was claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics.
He played a few games for them before being sent down to AAA and soon after was sent down to AA. Hopefully he can bounce back from this low point.
Liam Hendriks:
The Minnesota Twins 2011 minor league pitcher of the year has made eight appearances this season without securing a win and has struggled in some of those games.
He has recently been sent down to the minor leagues to work on his game and should not be writen off.
Travis Blackley:
Played four games for the San Francisco Giants at the beginning of the year but did not capatilise on the opportunity and was put up for assignment.
Blackley was then signed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics and the move seems to have done him good, he has been solid for them and the future looks good.
There are a number of other Australian players such as Shane Lindsay, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Trent Oeltjen who are in the minor leagues working at getting the call to join the Majors.
If you are looking for a MLB team to support you could look at the Oakland Athletics who have four Australians in their organisation; Travis Blackley and Grant Balfour who are in the Major League team and Luke Hughes and Rich Thompson who are currently in the A’s minor league system.
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