NL Teams signing DHs....

[webspinnre]

I've noticed in several of my careers that NL teams are willing to sign players to contracts of 5 million plus, and then simply play them as DHs and backups. This doesnt seem to make much sense - it screws the player over, and the team is wasting its money. I had a LF/RF who had a career OBP of .430 and a SLG of .470 who spent 6 years with an NL team and very rarely played, despite the fact that I was a much, much better hitter than other guys. I was only in the 60s in defense, but still, they were starting a guy with an OPS of 680-700. Rather frustrating.

Teams that are signing players should give more consideration to what they are looking for. A team with an average 2B shouldnt be signing another average 2b, just as a team that can't have DHs shouldnt be signing players to do that.

As others have mentioned, it should be possible to refuse assignment - I had a 6.5 million contract and got sent down to AAA.

Also, the idea of requesting a trade would be nice - also being able to tell the team whether you are happy with them or not. In addition they should be able to tell you whether they are happy with you or not. Maybe this could extend to free agent offers - teams could tell you how interested in you they are, and what role they see for you on their team - as a starter, bench player, platoon player, reliever, closer, etc...

[JWay]

trade requesting is a must have, i want out of Colorado right now (im a pitcher) and they wont let me go....