Added to 40-Man Roster: What's That Mean?

Photo by Tomo Sano

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I’m breathing, guys. I’m good. I have a reaction video to the news uploading. As you can imagine, the Wi-Fi here isn't the fastest so it's taking a while. I was able to upload part of the video on Dreams and Seams Facebook. Watch the video below to see my reaction and the situation we were in when we found out the news.

So yesterday, Nov. 20, the Dodgers added Matt to the 40-man roster! Which means MATT IS ON A MAJOR LEAGUE ROSTER!!!!!!
 
OK so before we all go really crazy, this does not mean Matt “got called up” or will be in the big leagues next season. BUT it’s a huge step in that direction.
 
I’ve explained before each team has a 40-man roster and a 25-man roster. The 25-man roster is the group of guys who are traveling and playing/on the bench each day for the team. The 40-man roster is those 25 plus 15 more. The 15 extra (which one is Matt) can be called up at anytime, make quite a bit more money than normal minor league salary and usually get called up in September when the rosters expand to 40. (If a team wants to call you up and you’re not on the 40-man, they have to make more moves to add you to the 40-man then the 25-man than when you’re on the 40-man already.)
 
So why did Matt get added to the 40-man now? There is a thing called the Rule 5 Draft. In short, any player who has not been added to the team’s 40-man roster before their fifth year in the minors/after four seasons can be picked up/drafted by another team. So the Dodgers added Matt to the 40-man roster to project him from being picked up by another team in the Rule 5 Draft (which is Dec. 13).
 
I hope this all makes sense. I know it’s confusing, and I have to talk through everything like 10 times to really understand it (and sometimes then don’t fully understand.) There are a lot of moving parts in this process. I’m trying my best to explain things as we go through them.
 
The biggest thing the 40-man brings is a real income for all the work Matt puts in and just one step closer to making his debut and being a big leaguer. We’re pumped! And thankful to the Dodgers.