I mean, he's only getting 40 days or so of service time this year. They can option him to AAA in the spring and he can stay there until late May and they still have him for 6 full seasons beyond next year. Assuming he sticks with the team permanently after late May.
This isn't a Ross Detwiler situation where they added him to the 40-man in September as a "thank-you" for signing quickly after the draft when he could have used an extra year in the minors beyond the 3 option years.
essentially, you are saying they have to keep him down 2 months to get back the time rather than 2 weeks at the start of next year. well, that means he couldn't be penciled into the rotation at the start of the year (given that you only need 4 starters for a time or two). Can you imagine the howling about "why is he in the minors" next year if they did that? He could have finished the year in AAA and gotten his full-season of innings in (or, as it turns out, on the IL).
