This is the summer team's dilemma: invariably, anywhere from 4 to as many as 6-7 players will cancel out within a week or two of beginning summer ball-due to injuries, grades, or girl friends that just can't live the summer without them. Our league roster limit is 28. This will be my 5th summer as a GM and the LEAST number of players we've lost in late spring is 4. Most teams "over-sign" to some degree, knowing spots will open. Some teams, in my humble opinion, go way too far, and I've seen teams sign as many as 35-38 players for a 28 man roster. I have been called by other GM's trying to place players they can't use. This year is the first that I've been brave enough to sign more than 28, as we've signed 30...but have already lost 2 and it's only November. The Cape is famous for signing a lot of guys to "10 day contracts", knowing there is a 100% chance that 10 days is all they will get, at best, as they are fillers until the guys in the NCAA playoffs show up. It's a great league for exposure but a lot of "cold decisions" happen, and those 10 days deals usually mean exactly that-10 days. Are there exceptions? Sure, players have managed to stick and have great summers, but that's the exception, and not all that often. Sometimes teams do over-sign, and cut players when their "big boys" arrive. Not too often in our league but it has happened.
About all a player can do is look at the on line roster, if it's posted, and count the signees, and if it's over the limit, especially if it's WAY over the limit, ask questions.
Invariably, all teams will lose some pitchers every year due to injuries or excessive innings pitched in the spring, so if I am a pitcher, I don't worry too much if the roster is over the limit. Position players are a little different but injuries, grades, and girls do wipe out some of them as well.
