One Quick Note

Not much to say tonight, but I want to comment on one thing in Sid Hartman's latest column, which can be found here.

In the article, Hartman says the following: "...this group [the bullpen], which includes free agents Reyes and Matt Guerrier..." (italics are mine).

So, what gives? Matt Guerrier had 1.056 years of major league service time coming into this season. He's spent the entire season on the Twins 25-man roster, so you can just add 1 to that number to arrive at his total at the end of the season: 2.056 years.

Here's the rub: to become a free agent, a player must accrue 6 years of MLB service time. Guerrier isn't even close. In fact, he's so far away that he won't even qualify for arbitration this offseason, which happens at three years (with the exception of the so-called "super 2's", who qualify for being close to 3 years). In other words, Guerrier is not a free agent in any sense of the word at the end of the season.

Perhaps Hartman means that Guerrier was acquired as a free agent, but that doesn't make sense either. Guerrier was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 1999, and made his way from there to Pittsburgh in a trade in 2002. At the end of the 2003 season, Guerrier was placed on waivers for whatever reason, and was claimed by the Twins on 11/20/03. It's not accurate, then, to describe Guerrier as a free agent in terms of how the Twins acquired him.

The moral of the story: don't trust Sid Hartman, or his editors.