What Does Tender Mean In Baseball?
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If you’re new to baseball, you may have heard people talk about “tenders” and wondered what they’re talking about. A tender is simply an offer of a contract by a team to a player.
The definition of “tender” in baseball
In baseball, “tender” has a specific meaning. A player is considered “tender” if he is injured and unable to play. This can be due to a physical injury or an illness. When a player is placed on the disabled list, he is considered “tender.”
How “tender” is used in baseball
“Tender” is a word with many meanings, but in baseball it refers to a player who is injured and cannot play. When a player is injured, he is said to be “on the disabled list.” If a player is on the disabled list, he cannot play in any games.
Tender as a noun
In baseball, “tender” has two common uses as a noun. The first is when a team makes a contract offer to a player who is eligible for salary arbitration. If the player accepts the offer, he is said to have “signed a tender.”
The second use of “tender” in baseball is when a team makes an offer to a player who has been released by another team. This offer is known as a “waiver wire claim.” If no other team puts in a claim for the player, he becomes the property of the team that made the claim.
Tender as a verb
When a Major League Baseball team makes a player an offer of a contract, the team is said to “tender” the player a contract. But what does it mean when a team tenders a player?
In baseball, to tender a contract means to make a formal offer of employment. A team can only tender a contract to players who meet certain eligibility requirements, such as:
– having been in the organization for a certain number of years (usually three),
– having played in the major leagues for a certain number of years (usually six), or
– being under club control (i.e., not eligible for free agency).
Once a team has tendered a contract to a player, the player has two weeks to decide whether to accept or reject the offer. If the player accepts the offer, he is said to “sign” the contract and is then bound by its terms. If the player rejects the offer, he is said to “reject” the contract and becomes a free agent.
The etymology of “tender”
The etymology of “tender” in baseball is uncertain. It may come from the fact that a “tender” player is one who is easily injured and, therefore, not able to play regularly. Another possibility is that it comes from the financial sense of the word, in which a player who is “tendered” a contract is one who is offered a contract at a set salary for the upcoming season.
The origins of “tender” in baseball
The use of the term “tender” in baseball comes from the earliest days of the game, when players who were not under contract with a team were free to sign with any team. These players were said to be “tendered” to the team they wanted to play for.
The term is also used in other sports, such as football, where it means the same thing. In baseball, however, the word has taken on a different meaning in recent years.
In baseball, a “tender” is now a player who is eligible for salary arbitration. This process allows players who have been in the league for three years (or more) to have their salaries determined by an arbitrator if they cannot come to an agreement with their team.
Players can also be “tendered” contracts by their teams. This means that the team offers the player a contract for the upcoming season. If the player accepts the contract, he is said to be “signed.” If he rejects it, he becomes a free agent and can sign with any team.
How “tender” has changed in baseball over time
The term “tender” in baseball has changed meaning over time. In the early days of baseball, a “tender” was a team’s replacement player. If a player on a team was injured or became ill, the tender would take his place on the roster.
The term has since taken on a different meaning. In modern baseball, a “tender” is a player who is arbitration-eligible and has been offered a contract by his team for the upcoming season. A player can be tendered at any time during his career, but most players are tendered after their third or fourth year in the league.
If a player is tendered, he is not automatically signed to a contract. The two sides will negotiate until they come to an agreement, and if they cannot reach an agreement, the player will become a free agent.
The current state of “tender” in baseball
In baseball, “tender” has come to mean that a player is injured and unable to play. The term is often used interchangeably with “injured list” or “disabled list.”
The use of “tender” to mean injured dates back to the early days of baseball. According to the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term was first used in 1887 in reference to an ankle injury suffered by Philadelphia Phillies player John Montgomery Ward. The dictionary notes that the term was in use by sportswriters by 1893.
Over time, the use of “tender” to refer to injuries became more commonplace, and by the mid-20th century, it was being used regularly by Major League Baseball teams and players. In recent years, some players have even referred to themselves as “day-to-day tender.”
While the use of “tender” to mean injured is now well established in baseball, it is not without its critics. Some argue that the term is too vague and that it does not give a clear enough picture of a player’s status. Others argue that the term is needlessly euphemistic and that it downplays the seriousness of injuries.
Regardless of the criticisms, it seems likely that “tender” will continue to be used as a shorthand way of referring to injuries in baseball for the foreseeable future.