MLB players are designated for assignment regularly. The transaction, often abbreviated DFA, removes the player from the team's 40-man roster, giving the club ten days to trade, release, or outright him to the minors. Players who are designated for assignment can be placed on waivers within the first seven days, and the best ones are traded or claimed and added to another team's 40-man roster.
Today we're happy to introduce a new way to monitor these players: MLBTR's DFA Tracker. The tracker, which will be updated moving forward, lists the player's name, team, date designated, and the date by which a resolution is expected. A player is assigned one of five statuses: DFA Limbo, Claimed, Outrighted, Released, or Optioned. Designated players all begin in what we like to call DFA Limbo, where they're off the 40-man roster and awaiting a resolution. All players will have their status updated from DFA Limbo to one of the other four when appropriate. Within the tracker, the player name is linked to his original MLBTR DFA post. You can search for players, filter by teams and/or status, and search within date ranges.
You can find the DFA Tracker here, and the link has also been added to the righthand sidebar under MLBTR Features. Speaking of which, check out our list of players who have cleared waivers, reverse standings, 2014 free agent list, transaction tracker, and agency database as well.