he's chasing dreams hitting seams.
she's chasing dreams talking sports.
There’s a lot that I need to catch up on writing about. Honestly, I get a little overwhelmed when I think about all the stuff I want to say and talk about. It’s hard to figure out where to start especially since a lot of time has passed since some of the events have happened, etc. Also I think Matt deserves to be included in a lot of this dialogue, but that’s just not very likely during the season…especially with how this season is going. With that being said, one of the most asked questions I’ve gotten is what it’s like going up and down and up and down. Again, Matt has a huge say in this, but I still think right now this is one of the questions I want to address the most. I have a pretty clear idea of how he feels so I think I can articulate it well. Matt has been recalled and optioned (aka sent back down) three times now, seven moves total. April 30 - first recall aka debut May 5 - optioned to OKC May 17 - recalled to LA June 21 - optioned to OKC June 22 - recalled to LA July 10 - optioned to OKC July 15 - recalled to LA Matt also spent 10-day on the injured list when wasn’t sure if they were going to put him on the IL or not.
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We’re officially in Oklahoma City! We finally got WiFi up and running, everything moved into our new apartment and everything pretty much situated. We’re just in need of a couple of TV stands. Just so I’m clear we pretty much knew we were going to start the year in AAA even before spring training started so don’t be so shocked that we’re not in LA. :) Matt was “optioned” to minor league camp with about two weeks left of spring training. Matt (and most minor league guys) has three options on his contract —meaning once the Dodgers choose to send (aka option) him to the minor leagues instead of putting him on the 25-roster they’ve used one of his options. The Dodgers used one of his three options when they sent him to minor league camp during spring training. When you use an option it's just for the entire year so the Dodgers can send him up and down as many times as they want this season, and it’s under the first option. Once he is out of options, another team can pick him up. Still with me? I know this baseball lingo and rules get kind of confusing. I wrote about my experiences at our first fan fest for Our Baseball Life. If you want to read it, click the link below! https://ourbaseballlife.com/blog/fanfest We’ve officially been in La Romana, Dominican Republic for a week now. Matt was officially activated and added to the roster today. The rosters can only be changed every Monday here. He’ll be playing for the Toros del Este. If some of my information is a little off base, it’s because I can’t read the website (LOL) because it’s all in Spanish. A little background about winter ball, there are several leagues guys can go play for. There are teams in the Caribbean League here in the DR (six teams), Mexico, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico. There is also a league in Australia. This is Matt’s first time playing winter ball. Usually guys who were hurt for the majority of the season or guys who need/want more reps go play winter ball somewhere. Another reason is if guys are free agents and want to keep playing to get more/different exposure in hopes of being signed back to a MLB organization or even to a professional team outside of the states. Or even to make some “real” money. Obviously, Matt’s reason is because he was hurt most the season. We knew pretty early on he was wanting to play somewhere. His agent worked his magic and we got pretty lucky with the best set-up in the DR. Most of the time only guys who have big league time or have been coming to play here for years get signed to the DR teams.
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. |
Matt & Jesica BeatyWelcome in to dreams and seams! A tell-all blog about our career dreams and path to reaching those dreams with some commentary about sports and life plus some videos too. "Strive for the impossible because it makes the possible seem effortless." -Matt Beaty Categories
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