Spring Training DL Question

[GTW]

I'm sure it gets asked every year but when do teams tend to officially place guys on the DL during spring training? For example, Greinke is expected to begin the year on the DL but he has yet to be put on the disabled list. I'm guessing teams wait until the latest possible time to put someone on the DL. I'm hoping for my fantasy teams sake that he will be put on the DL sooner rather than later.

[Element]

March 22
The earliest date a club may backdate a placement on the Major League 15-day disabled list.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/importa ... b_schedule

[Fantasy Sports Genie]

For the sake of completeness, we recently noticed that Shawn Kelley (P - Seattle) was showing as on the DL. When we asked our provider about this, we learned he's already on the 60 day DL. We also received a player note saying he is on the 60 day DL as of March 2nd. So I gather players can be put on the 60 day DL earlier than the 15 day DL.

[Steve-o]

March 22
The earliest date a club may backdate a placement on the Major League 15-day disabled list.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/importa ... b_schedule

I would have quoted:

March 31
Opening Day 2011. All clubs are required to reduce rosters to 25 players.

You can put them on the DL before that, but why bother until you are required to reduce the roster size?

[GTW]

March 22
The earliest date a club may backdate a placement on the Major League 15-day disabled list.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/importa ... b_schedule

Thanks for the link. After looking at transactions from last year it appears that most teams waited until a day or two before Opening Day to place their star players (often retroactively) on the DL. Cliff Lee, Kinsler, Lilly, Reyes, and Kuo were all placed on the DL the day before Opening Day.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/?tc ... &year=2010

[buffalobillsrul2002]

Players on the 15-day DL count against the 40-man roster, but not the 25-man roster (so those guys won't be put on the DL until right before the season is set to start since there is no "25-man roster" until that point).

On the other hand, the 60-day DL does not count against the 40-man roster, so if a player were to be out for 2 months or more, it's possible you'd see them get DL'd during spring training. however, there are issues (I think players have to pass through waivers if they get cut from the 40-man) with simply "calling up" guys to the 40-man that aren't present with moving guys on and off the 25-man, so while 15-day DLs are common, 60-day DL's are usually only used if the player in question is going to be out for a long time (usually the season).