Navarro Blast Propels Cubs to Victory over Giants

If Brett Jackson is optioned to Iowa out of Spring Training and then is not recalled before June 11th, he cannot be a free-agent until post-2019 (at the earliest). But if B-Jax is optioned to Iowa out of Spring Training and is recalled before June 11th, he could be a free-agent post-2018 (UNLESS he is optioned to the minors in some future season).

This is similar to what happened with Anthony Rizzo last year, where the Cubs optioned him to Iowa out of Spring Training and then waited to recall him until just after the point in the season where he would not go over one year of MLB Service Time through the 2012 season (he ended up at 0+168 MLB Service Time through the 2012 season, ensuring that he cannot be a free-agent until post-2018).

The Cubs screwed-up with both Travis Wood and Welington Castillo, however,

If the Cubs had waited five more days to recall T. Wood in May, or if they had optioned him to Iowa for ten days over the All-Star Break (when a 5th starter wasn't needed for ten days, and so that T. Wood could have stayed sharp by getting a start for Iowa at Omaha on the Thursday after the MLB All-Star Game instead of remaining on the Cubs 25-man roster and not pitching for ten days), he would have fallen just short of two years of MLB Service Time through the 2012 season (he ended up with 2+004 MLB ST), meaning he would not have been eliigible to be a free-agrent until post-2017, instead of post-2016 as is now the case.

Likewise, because Welington Castillo was recalled when he was (7/31, after Geovany Soto was traded), he ended up with nine days over one year of MLB Service Time (1+009) through the 2012 season, making him eligible to be a free-agent after the 2017 season, instead of post-2018 if he had (for example) been left at Iowa until after the conclusion of the PCL season on Labor day. (The Cubs could have brought up a veteran 4-A catcher like Juan Apodaca to platoon with Steve Clevenger and get them through the month of August, until Castillo was recalled in September).

Both T. Wood and W. Castillo are now out of minor league options, so it won't be possible to get their service times any lower without outrighting them to the minors (which isn't likely to happen unless the player turns out be a stiff, and then it wouldn't matter anyway).

A club has to be careful with guys who are down to their last option year (as Travis Wood and Welington Castillo were last year, and as Rafael Dolis and Alberto Cabrera are this year), because you aren't going to get another chance to manage the player's MLB Service Time (which determines when a player can become a free-agent). So the Cubs need to try and make sure that Dolis does not accrue more than 50 days of MLB Service Time in 2012, and make sure that Cabrera does not accrue more than 107 days (both will be out of options in 2014). 

BTW, falling just short of a full season of Service Time (as happened with Rizzo last season) will NOT affect when the player will become eligible for salary arbitration, because if he falls short of three years of MLB Service Time by even as much as 30-40 days, the player would still be eligible for arbitration as a "Super Two." It only affects when a player can be a free-agent.