Now is the time of year when teams must begin resetting their 40-man rosters.
Impending free agents must be re-signed or left to explore the open market. Arbitration-eligible players must be tendered a new contract by the tender deadline. Players with less than three years’ service time can sit at their phones and wait to hear whether they will be offered a six-figure salary for next season.
Pitcher Stephen Fife was among the six players who ended the season on the 60-day DL. Monday, The Dodgers reinstated Fife from the 60-day DL and outrighted him to Triple-A today, removing him from their 40-man roster.
Fife is unlikely to pitch until 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August. He made one spot start for the Dodgers this season, allowing four runs in six innings in a May game against the Miami Marlins, and appeared in 11 games for Triple-A Albuquerque.
Fife went 2-2 with a 6.34 earned-run average for the Dodgers’ former Triple-A affiliate.
Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, Onelki Garcia, Paul Maholm and Chris Withrow also ended the season on the 60-day DL. Maholm and Beckett, who’s already announced his retirement, are set to become free agents. Billingsley has a $14 million team option for 2015 or can be bought out for $3 million.
Garcia and Withrow, who have less than three years’ service time, will likely be brought back. Withrow is also rehabbing his way back from Tommy John surgery. Garcia was a candidate to rejoin the Dodgers’ 40-man roster after pitching in some Double-A games in early September.