It’s confusing at first http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-dustin-pedroia-jersey , but it’s actually a simple system worth knowing"Even you’ve probably heard that a baseball player has been optioned before. Maybe you knew what it meant, or maybe you just nodded your head and hoped no one would ask you how the Indians could option Shawn Armstrong 37 times in a single season.Well, fret not, for options are actually a pretty straightforward process, and after this quick overview you’ll be able to impress all your friends about your knowledge of how these little buggers actually work.The official definition from MLB is a pretty good place to start in understanding options. Essentially, options are set up to allow a team to send a player on their 40-man roster to the minors and call him up worry free, while at the same time prohibiting them from abusing the process for several seasons and just stashing players in Triple-A. One of the most important things to know about options is that, when you hear someone say a player “has options left,” what they really mean is they have option years left. Using my only slightly exaggerated Shawn Armstrong example above, the Indians optioned the poor guy eight times in 2017 alone, in what was his final option year. He was optioned just twice in 2015 and five times in 2016 David Price Jersey , but they all count the same. Armstrong became very familiar with I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland because he had three full option years when he debuted in 2015. When he was optioned twice in his rookie season, that still only used one of his option years. Same goes for the five in 2016, and the eight trips to Columbus in 2017. If the Indians had held onto Armstrong and gave him another shot to stop walking everyone under the sun in 2018, they would have had to send him through waivers every single time he burned out his arm. That would have made him vulnerable to another team placing a claim on him and either receiving him outright from the Indians or working out a trade if the Indians don’t pull him back off waivers. He could possibly have cleared waivers in 2018, but a reliever with as much strikeout potential as Armstrong had (and still has), means it’s very unlikely he would have gone unclaimed for very long. He was traded in the offseason to the Mariners, instead. Options are an important factor this time of year because it often times determines which player will make a roster out of spring training if two choices are pretty similar. For example, if Player A has a lower ceiling than Player B, but Player A has an option year left while Player B is on the edge of needing more work in Triple-A, Player A will probably start the season in the majors, just because he has more flexibility. Player-A can fail terribly and still be optioned no problem in May, while Player B would be either stuck on the major-league roster and failing Craig Kimbrel Jersey , or the team would run the risk of losing him in a waiver claim. Some other caveats, from FanGraphs’ own explainer, which is also worth a read: That’s all that’s to it. It sounds stupid simple, because it really is. Until recently, the only hard thing about options was finding out who actually had one. MLB doesn’t track it publicly anywhere and it’s not even on FanGraphs or Baseball-Reference pages for players. It was basically a guessing game and trying to paste together past transactions to find out who could still be sent down. But now we have Roster Resource, which is a great resource. For rosters. It breaks down just about everything you could want to know about the Indians or any other team. For the purpose of this post, and for anyone who has struggled in the past to keep track of options, the best thing is in fact it’s option tracking. According to Roster Resource’s numbers, here are some notable players who have an option year left and how many they have left as of March 12, 2019, sorted by position. CatchersKevin Plawecki - 0 Roberto Perez - 3Eric Haase - 2First basemen/designated hittersCarlos Santana - 0Hanley Ramirez - 0InfieldersJose Ramirez - 1Francisco Lindor - 3Jason Kipnis - 0Eric Stamets - 2Mike Freeman - 1OutfieldersLeonys Martin - 0Tyler Naquin - 2Jake Bauers - 2Jordan Luplow - 1Bradley Zimmer - 2Greg Allen - 2Oscar Mercado - 2Trayce Thompson - 0Matt Joyce - 0Starting pitchersCorey Kluber - 0Trevor Bauer - 0Carlos Carrasco - 0Mike Clevinger - 1Shane Bieber - 2Adam Plutko - 1Danny Salazar - 0Cody Anderson - 1Relief pitchersBrad Hand - 0Neil Ramirez - 0Jon Edwards - 2Adam Cimber - 3Oliver Perez - 0Tyler Clippard - 0Tyler Olson - 0Dan Otero - 0Nick Goody - 1Ben Taylor - 1 Hannah Foslien/Getty ImagesMinnesota Twins first baseman Joe Mauer will examine his future in MLB following the 2018 season, he said in an interview with the Star Tribune'sLa Velle E. Neal III.Mauer discussed how he plans to thoroughly weigh his decision in the offseason:"There's a lot that goes into it than just Steven Wright Jersey , 'Do you want to play?'There's a lot of different dynamics that go into it. I owe it to myself and my family to sit down and think about those things.I have had some conversations with some people close to me and it's amazing. Getting little bits from different people that are helping me cultivate this [decision]. I still have a lot to think about. I still have people who I want to speak to.It's interesting. It's a big decision, and I want to make sure I'm 100 percent about it."Mauer is a free agent this offseason, so he wouldn't be leaving any money on the table if he retired.The 35-year-old is also suffering through one of the worst seasons of his career. He's still batting .272, but he's unrecognizable from the hitter who won American League MVP in 2009. He's slugging .374 with six home runs and 43 RBI. According toFanGraphs, Mauer's 0.8 WAR is his second-lowest ever.Neal also noted Mauer was dealing withconcussion-like symptomsearlier this year after hitting his head on the ground while diving to make a play in the Twins' 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels on May 11.Mauer suffered a concussion in 2013 that accelerated what was going to be afull-time movefrom catcher to first base. Hetold reportersin 2016 he had continued to feel the effects of the concussion years later as he would have blurred vision at the plate during day games.Whenever he does officially retire, Mauer will go down as one of the greatest players in Twins history, and he's likely a lock for the Hall of Fame.According toBaseball Reference, Mauer boasts a 46.9 JAWS score, which averages a player's career WAR with their peak WAR over a seven-year span. Mauer's JAWS score is seventh-best among catchers, and the six players ahead of him are all enshrined in Cooperstown, New York.