But I thought that was no longer the issue because that date passed 10 days ago. Maybe this was explained to me incorrectly or I didn't understand the explanation. I give up. 
Oh, I see. No, that date did not pass. The date is actually unknown at this time. It should start in a few days, but it varies.
It's based on the service time of all other big leaguers who have been called up this year (or who have been called up in previous years but won't accrue enough service time until 2013.)
The only cutoff that's passed so far was the date to actually postpone free agency an extra year. That was in mid-late April. The Mets called up Ike Davis right after that date.
