Baseball-Reference publishes 2010 debuts (and so do we in our Almanac each year, and we include team, too):

http://www.baseball-reference......buts.shtml

This list will give you a rough idea of players who have been added to a 40-man roster for the first time. Some may have been included previously without seeing action in a game.

Now that you mention it, an agent told me about the minor league contract language just a few weeks ago. Apparently, I did not grasp the implications.

The standard minor league contract runs for seven years and contains six renewals. As Mike notes, the expiration of this deal signals free agency, so long as no other deal is in place. For 2010 draft picks, their contracts will expire following the 2016 season. Most every player will have between 6 and 6.5 years of service at that date, thus the confusion on my part.

Also of note . . . Beginning with the implementation of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement following the ’06 season, the lives of minor league players have changed in the following ways:

• They became free agents at a later date, a date that coincides with the major league free agents hitting the market. This date currently stands as five days after the World Series, whereas in the past minor league free agents would be declared as such in mid-October.

• They had their Rule 5 draft eligibility pushed back by one year—to four or five years depending on the age at which they signed. (See details in this post.) This change took effect for the ’06 Rule 5 draft.

• The implementation of the mid-August signing deadline for the draft, beginning in ’07, had the effect of: 1) abolishing the the draft-and-follow process, and 2) seeing to it that (most) every player now signs his first pro contract during the minor league season of his draft year.

Thanks for the clarification. The age cutoff is an important distinction.

One thing I would add regarding the rules. As you stated, the cutoff age for whether a player gets 4 seasons or 5 seasons of team control is 18. However, it’s not the age the player is at the time he signs his contract, rather it’s what his age was on the prior June 5th. If the player was 18 or younger on that June 5th then the team doesn’t have to protect him until the offseason after his 5th qualifying season. If he was 19 or older then the team doesn’t have to protect him until the offseason of his 4th qualifying season.

Also, as you correctly implied, the player doesn’t actually have to play any games or even be assigned to any minor league team for his season to be a qualifying season. All that he has to do is sign a contract before that season is officially over.

Teams are not required to keep players they put on their 40 man rosters before the Rule 5 draft for any specific length of time once the draft is over. However, any time that they take the player off their 40 man roster the player must pass through waivers and can be claimed by any other team for no money and no compensation. The team that claims him does not have to put him on their 40 man roster.

To you and anyone who's interested in the machinations of the minor league Rule 5 draft, I refer you to this piece, written at the conclusion of the ’09 Winter Meetings:

http://www.baseballamerica.com.....69287.html

Thank you for bringing up Jesus Montero. Short explanation: He is not eligible for the Rule 5 draft despite being an international signee from the year 2006.

The key here is signing date. Remember, only players who sign during the minor league season have that first year under contract count against them. But because Montero signed on Oct. 17, 2006—after the minor league season—his Rule 5 clock began ticking in ’07.

This same guideline will benefit the Twins and their Dominican shortstop Miguel Sano, who signed on Oct. 7, 2009. Because he signed after the minor league season, the conservative Twins will not have to protect Sano until after the 2014 season. Most international players signed in ’09, e.g. Gary Sanchez, Juan Urbina, will have to be protected a year earlier than Sano.

The Rule 5 draft goes down the morning of Thursday, Dec. 9, the final day of the Winter Meetings. The world waits with bated breath.

We will have a Rule 5 preview that touches on some of the more attractive eligible players. But remember Rule 5 beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

You are correct that the standard minor league contract runs for seven years. However, free agency is based on service time, not necessarily the expiration of a player's first minor league contract.

A player like Bubba Bell, who signed as a draft pick in ’05, accrues just a fraction of a year of service during his pro debut. So in reality Bell entered the ’06 season with, let's say, 0.5 years of service. At the completion of the ’10 season, then, he had approximately 5.5 years of service. Bell will qualify for free agency following the ’11 season if he's not on a 40-man roster (and assuming he does not re-sign on a minor league deal).

Please continue your crusade to abolish the term six-year free agent. It is a misnomer.