Designated for Assignment (DFA)

Sometimes a club needs to remove a player from its MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and/or MLB Active List (26-man or 28-man roster) immediately, but the club has not yet decided the final disposition of the player and/or assignment waivers have not yet been secured. In this case, a player can be Designated for Assignment (DFA).

DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT BY CUBS (last updated 4-23-2024):
Garrett Cooper, 1B (4/23)  

1. When a player is Designated for Assignment, the "Designated Player" is removed from his club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and MLB Active List (26-man roster), and then the club has up to seven days (formerly ten days) to either trade, release, or non-tender the player, or option or outright the player to the minors.
NOTE: The days between Christmas Day and New Year's Day (inclusive) do not count toward the seven days.  

2. A Rule 5 Selected Player cannot be Designated for Assignment during the period of time between the conclusion of the MLB Rule 5 Draft and 20 days prior to MLB Opening Day.

3. A player continues to be paid (at the "Major League rate" for players with "split" contracts) while he is Designated for Assignment.

4. A player who is Designated for Assignment (DFA) accrues MLB Service Time for the entire period of time he is Designated for Assignment during the MLB regular season, but if the player is Designated for Assignment prior to the start of the MLB regular season and the DFA period extends into the MLB regular season, the player does not accrue MLB Service Time while he is Designated for Assignment.

5. A player acquired off waivers can be optioned to the minors by his new club (as long as the player has a minor league option available, unless the player has the right to refuse an Optional Assignment and does not give his consent), but if a club acquires a player off waivers and the claiming club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) is full so that the club needs to remove a player from its MLB Reserve List in order to open a spot on its 40-man roster for the newly-acquired player, or the claiming club's MLB Active List (25-man roster) is full so that the club needs to remove a player from its MLB Active List in order to open a spot on its 25-man roster for the newly-acquired player, the player who was claimed off waivers cannot be Designated for Assignment to alleviate the roster logjam.

6. A player acquired off waivers cannot be Designated for Assignment for at least 48 hours after the club is awarded the waiver claim or until the player has been on the claiming club's MLB Active List for at least one MLB regular season game (whichever comes first).