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Three Worst Words in Baseball: Designated for Assignment
There are phrases we never want to hear. One is when your boss says “would you step into my office.” Another is “I’m afraid I have some bad news.” If you’re a professional baseball player, the phrase is “you’ve been designated for assignment (DFA).” DFA in baseball blows.
If you’ve been designated for assignment, it doesn’t really mean you are being given a baseball assignment. You are being assigned to some other profession other than baseball. Designated for assignment is a euphemism for “you’ve been cut; we won’t want you on our team anymore; you might want to start looking for a real job; don’t come back; don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Three major league players were designated for assignment this week: Aaron Hill of the San Francisco Giants, Kyle Schwarber of the Chicago Cubs, and Stephen Vogt of the Oakland As. It’s unlikely they have been designated to do any sort of assignment that has anything to do with them ever playing pro baseball again. They have been cut. Their boyhood dreams to make it to the big leagues, be stars and make big bucks, evaporate. Dreams get shattered. The real world of 9 to 5 lurks and haunts.
These DFA-ers may join a minor league team, play great, and get called up again to the big leagues again. But it’s unlikely. The teams they played for have told them they’re no longer good enough. Most other big league teams won’t go near such a player.
Is there anything worse than the organization you work for telling you-you are no longer good enough at what you do for them to continue employing and paying you?
“It’s nothing personal,” they might say to assuage your emotions. “It’s just business.”
This is bull. It is very personal when you get let go by your company or told you are not valuable enough. In business, they say things like “we’ve decided to move in other directions,” or “we’re restructuring our business,” or “we’re reorganizing for the future.”
All of this means “designated for assignment.” So when you hear those words as a ball player, what are you supposed to do? You might as well be classy and professional and take the thunderbolt with toughness and equanimity. Realize that the work and talent you developed to become a major league player can be transferred successfully into other careers. The end of baseball does not mean the end of your chance at happiness and fulfillment.
The beauty of the American capitalistic system is that the best performers, highest achievers and hardest workers more often avoid being designated for assignment. They keep their jobs and make lots of money and wield plenty of power. The ugliness of this system is some people don’t get to keep their jobs and make money if they’re not talented, hard-working or valuable enough.
It’s nothing personal. It’s just business. Hah.
The wisdom of capitalism is that it creates competition and attractive incentives for people to perform at higher levels. The pro baseball player who hits 100 balls in the batting cage every day is more likely to keep his job than the player who hits 10 balls each day. The guy who takes 100 swings is more likely to perform better, help his team win games, attract more fans to the ballpark, and generate more revenues. Hard work pays off for the guy who puts in the most work. The guy who exerts less effort, who doesn’t keep his skills as sharp as the 100-balls-a-day guy, puts himself at higher risk to be designated for assignment.
It’s clean and pure yet raw and rough. You play well, you benefit. You don’t, watch out. You will be more likely to lose your job and earn less money. You will be more vulnerable more quickly to being forced to something other than play baseball for the rest of your life.
The good news for those ball players who do get DFA-ed is that there are enjoyable professions beyond baseball. But the same rules apply. The best performers and hardest workers will capture the greatest prizes and financial rewards. Those who don’t put forth the effort to sharpen their skills are more likely to be designated for assignment.
For the three guys who have been DFA-ed, we should feel sorry for the pain this blow can inflict upon their emotions and minds.
Getting cut is one of the worst experiences any athlete can experience. To this day one of the worst moments of my life occurred the day I tried out for my college’s baseball team and got axed. On a wall in the dugout was taped a white piece of paper listing the players invited back for the next day’s practice. My name was not on it. A baseball career was finished.
I had been designated for assignment.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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