You know I was gone for about a week and missed whatever lead to the new tagline on the front page.  Is there a joke I'm missing?

I'm pretty sure he lives in New Hampshire.  He replied to a post of mine where I mentioned that I live in New Hampshire and he wanted to meet up.  I can't find it though....

Give 'em hell, Chuckie!

I think Casey will make one hell of a 3rb base coach when his career is over.  We bash the guy all the time for being unclutch and not being that great of a player.  We whine about why the front offices keeps him around but he is a very intelligent, gritty and determined player.  The guy should have failed to make the majors and he has made the most of his limited opportunities that he had here.  Even though he isn't a great player plenty of organizations would be happy to have a player of his effort and personality.  When Marte failed he was our back up plan, the Twins wish they had that kind of production from a 3rb and haven't had it since Gary Gaetti.

Zing!

I can just imagine Casey locking up in fear as the runner is approaching third and then just tackling him as he rounds for home.

"Oh, sorry dude, I guess I'm just that unclutch."

We can always sub someone in for him when a runner is on. Otherwise I think he'd be a perfectly fine third base coach as long as the bases are empty.

A) Keeps Casey-v.-Travis alive for years to come, while
B) Not letting Casey actually play, and
C) Replaces everyone's favorite third base coach.

It was obviously just a bit of sarcasm.  I'm sure he could grittily determinate a bullpen catching job if coaching third doesn't suit him.

Well, this page seems to be pretty accurate, but it doesn't seem to be fourth-option savvy (which is tricky!), and I always figure it out for myself when I'm not sure.  Aside from the fourth-option exception, figuring it out means determining two things:

1. When was he added to the 40-man roster?
   
2. In which seasons has he used up an option?

The first question is answered by researching the transactions history, sometimes via Google and often ending up browsing through Transactions at indians.com.  It helps to have an understanding of when a player's Rule 5 protection wears off, because generally any significant player is added to the 40-man either at that moment (in November) or at the moment of his first call-up.

The second question is basically just looking to see when, after his contract being purchased, he spent time in the minors.  In Cliff's case, you can actually tell just at a glance that he probably has an option left.  He had what appears to be a September callup in 2002, and there would have been no reason to add him to the 40-man before that moment, since that was the end of only his third pro season.  Remember that September callups don't get sent back down in that season, so no option is used up.

After that point, he clearly used up options in 2003 and 2007, but that's it.  So he must have one option left, but the Indians are not completely free to use it.  As with last season, he'd have to clear revocable waivers first -- the same kind a player has to clear in order to be traded in August.  (This requirement is based on several years having passed since his debut, too complicated to get into here.)  This could turn out to be the mechanism by which he's traded, and in fact there's even a small chance they'd just dump his contract on the claiming club.

The other hindrance on that option is that Lee will reach five full years of service time in mid-June, assuming he isn't demoted by them.  At that point, he'll have the right to refuse any optional assignment, and players generally do and Cliff likely would.  The team's hands really are tied at that point, as they are still on the hook for the guaranteed contract even if they release him.

The fourth option thing is a little hairy, but it only really comes up in situations where either (a) a prospect has been chronically injured, and (b) a prospect was signed to a major league deal and started using up options immediately.

A player only gets a fourth in a situation where he (a) has used up three options already, but (b) hasn't spent five "full seasons" on the active roster of a minor league club.  "Active roster" means not on the DL, but you also have to know what does and doesn't count as a "full season," and that is:  (a) at least 90 days on the active roster, or the first 60 days of the season, (b) there's no fractional credit for a season like with big-league service time, each season is either a 1 or a 0, (c) short-season leagues don't count, so we're talking about A, A-advanced, AA and AAA only.

So here again, you can generally eyeball this just by looking at a guy's stat page, though occasionally you'd dig for more research just to be sure whether a season counts as a full season, based on what dates specifically he was active.  Here again, in Aubrey's case, it's actually pretty clear-cut.

• Added to 40-man after 2005 season when his Rule 5 protection ran out (three years for college players under the old CBA)
  
• Options used in 2006, 2007, third one in 2008.
  
• 2003 -- not a full season, even if you signed and reported on the day of the draft, you still couldn't get in 90 days before the season ended.
  
• 2004 -- full season, obvious, played in 98 games.
  
• 2005 -- not a full season, only played in 28 games, highly improbable he spent 90 days or the first 60 off the DL.
  
• 2006 -- not a full season, only played in 14 games.
  
• 2007 -- dubious with 65 games played, but probably not.

I did research the 2007 season and determined that it would not count, but it actually doesn't matter either way.  By a year from now, at best, Aubrey's full seasons would include 2004, 2007 and 2008.  That's only three, and as long as he doesn't have five, we get the fourth option on him.

Looking at it another way, once a player is added to the 40-man in November, he usually will have two full seasons credited already.  If he doesn't, he likely will get a fourth option, because at that point, the player has used 0 options and has only 0 or 1 full seasons credited.  Three seasons later, he'd have 3 options used and at most 4 full seasons credited, so the fourth option kicks in.

Based on that, we essentially already knew when Aubrey was added to the 40-man that we would get four option years on him -- if we needed them.