Season ending IR?

cherno · Jul 29, 2004

I have seen stated in various other threads statements to the effect of "sign so-and-so because then we're closer to being able to put Martins, Q2, etc. on season ending IR." I have also seen people questioning MLS' rule that you can't put players on IR until we have a full roster (if that rule even exists). My question is this; if putting a player on IR does not provide cap relief, what advantage is there to putting people on IR if we already have roster slots available. I assume that we won't put anyone on IR until we have a full roster AND we find someone else to sign and thus need the roster space (so we probably won't put anyone on IR this season ). I therefore would take putting one of the guys on IR to mean that a signing was imminent. Do I understand this correctly or am I missing something?

Cherno

owendylan · Jul 29, 2004

cherno said:

I have seen stated in various other threads statements to the effect of "sign so-and-so because then we're closer to being able to put Martins, Q2, etc. on season ending IR." I have also seen people questioning MLS' rule that you can't put players on IR until we have a full roster (if that rule even exists). My question is this; if putting a player on IR does not provide cap relief, what advantage is there to putting people on IR if we already have roster slots available. I assume that we won't put anyone on IR until we have a full roster AND we find someone else to sign and thus need the roster space (so we probably won't put anyone on IR this season ). I therefore would take putting one of the guys on IR to mean that a signing was imminent. Do I understand this correctly or am I missing something?

Cherno
Click to expand...

This is what MLS' website has to say about IR and replacement players.

"REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

Should the League determine that a player has, beyond a reasonable doubt, suffered a season ending injury, that player's team may be provided with roster relief. However, in such cases, the club in question will only receive only roster relief and remain responsible for the full amount of the injured player's salary. When this occurs, the injured player will not be allowed to compete for his team for the remainder of the season in question (including MLS Cup Playoff or Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches). The above shall apply to both Senior Roster and Developmental players.

INJURED RESERVE LIST

To qualify for injured reserve list, a player must have sustained an injury that will keep him out for a minimum of 15 consecutive days. A player placed on the injured reserve list will not count against the team's active roster."

As far as I can tell there is no advantage to putting a player on IR until you have a full roster unless you are going to do multiple signings on the same day and need a roster spot in order to do so. I don't get how a replacement player is much different that signing a player to fill a spot vacated by placing someone on IR. I guess maybe the length of time. If you have a player on IR you could sign someone for a short period of time to fill his spot, but you would assume a replacement player would be for the remainder of the season.