Cincinnati Reds: Who has minor-league options remaining?

The Cincinnati Reds have several decisions to make once spring training begins. One question on everyone’s mind, is who has minor-league options remaining?

As spring training nears, fans often wonder who’s going to make the Opening Day roster. This year, that number jumps from 25 to 26. The number of remaining minor-league options a player has oftentimes plays into a team’s decision to keep certain players on a roster. Which members of this year’s Cincinnati Reds team are running out of options?

Last year, we saw Robert Stephenson given every chance under the sun to win a spot on the 2019 Opening Day roster. As it turned out, Stephenson became one of the most reliable arms in the Cincinnati Reds bullpen last season. However, the reason Bob Steve was given so many chances was because he was out of minor-league options.

What is a minor league option? A player on the 40-man roster is given three minor league options. Those “options” allow a player to be sent down to the minor leagues without being exposed to waivers. When a player is optioned to the Minors for a span of more than 20 days, he loses an option.

Once optioned, a player must remain for a minimum of 10 days before he eligible to be recalled. An option applies to an entire season, so a player can be sent down and recalled to the majors any number of times over the course of a season, but he’ll only lose one option. We saw this last year with Josh VanMeter and Phillip Ervin.

So, who’s going to be given that long leash this season? We’ve broken these groups of players down into four different categories – those with three minor-league options remaining, two minor-league options remaining, one minor-league option remaining, and those players with no minor-league options remaining. All eligibility is courtesy of Roster Resource.