As the Major League Baseball offseason officially gets underway, one of the first developments you’ll notice across the league is minor league players opting for free agency.
This is a routine occurrence for every organization, but it’s still worth paying attention to, as minor league depth plays a crucial role in a team’s overall success. Even for big-spending clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers, having a strong group of players in the minors is vital — particularly when injuries arise during the season.
That’s just a quick note on how vital — yet often overlooked — minor league depth really is. In the case of the Seattle Mariners, several players from their minor league system have chosen to test free agency. The most recognizable name to fans is probably Michael Fulmer. However, a number of others have also elected free agency, including one player who unintentionally helped spark a league-wide rule change.
That player is veteran catcher. The 30-year-old spent last season in the Mariners’ minor league system, posting a .193/.277/.298 slash line with seven RBIs. Over his career, Nottingham has appeared in 53 major league games across four seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers and Mariners, though he hasn’t played in the majors since 2021.
He isn’t a big-name player on the field, but the biggest fun fact about him is that there was a rule change back in 2022 in the collective bargaining agreement that had to do with him. There was a time in which he went back and forth between the Brewers and Mariners on waivers. Over the span of 22 days, he went from the Brewers, to the Mariners, back to the Brewers, and then back to the Mariners because there was a loophole with waivers.
It’s been a busy week for Seattle
The rule change, as explained by CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa, essentially established that if a team claimed a player off waivers and that player was later placed on waivers again by another team, the original claiming team would move to the back of the waiver order for that player the next time around.
“This we can call this either the Jacob Nottingham Rule or the Joel Payamps Rule,” Axisa said. “Last season Nottingham went from the Brewers to the Mariners to the Brewers to the Mariners on waivers in the span of 22 days. Payamps went from the Red Sox to the Blue Jays to the Red Sox to the Blue Jays in the span of 28 days. That must’ve been a whirlwind.
“The new CBA has a rule to prevent Nottingham and Payamps-like adventures. Now a team that claims a player on waivers goes to the back of the line whenever the player is placed on waivers later that year. For Nottingham, the Mariners would’ve been bumped to the end of the waiver priority order the second time the Brewers waived him. Every other team would have had a chance at him before Seattle.”
So, he may not be a big-name player, but he’s had an impact on Major League Baseball as a whiole and now is a free agent.
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