It is not unusual that a player who is out of options who is DFA'd (designated for assignment, also called an 'outright' assignment or being 'outrighted') because the team that owns their contract doesn't want/need them on their 25-man 'starting' roster, will refuse the assignment if they have the prerequisite service time (five years) and elect to pursue free agency.  These players, more often than not, will sign a contract with another AAA club.  The free agent contract can be argued to be better than working under the players existing contract, but it's usually an extremely marginal or even intangible difference.

That being said, it seems that Seattle is suffering from a huge number of players who really want to get the hell away from the Mariners organization.  It doesn't help that Seattle has been reputed to be a highly-dysfunctional and poorly run organization for years.

Just a thought.  Comments and insight welcome.

Posted by: Ben at 10:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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