4th year options

Assignment to a minor league team[edit]
Options[edit]
Options are directed by MLB Rule 11 (C).[12] A player has a finite number of option years in which he may be moved between the major and minor leagues an unlimited number of times. If a player is on the 40-man roster but not on the active major league roster, he is said to be on optional assignment—his organization may freely move him between the major league club and the minor league club. The rules for this are as follows. (In all cases, an assignment of a player on a major-league disabled list to the minors while on a rehabilitation assignment does not count as time spent in the minors.) A common misconception, based on the phrase, “out of options,” is that a player may only be moved between the major and minor leagues a restricted number of times.
Once a player has been placed on a team’s 40-man roster, a team has 3 option years on that player.
A player is considered to have used one of those three option years when he spends at least 20 days in the minors in any of those 3 seasons.
A team may have a fourth option year on a player with less than five full seasons of professional experience, provided that both conditions below are met.
A player has not spent at least 90 days on an active professional roster in a season. Minor leagues that play below Class A Advanced have seasons that are shorter than 90 days, and as such, any player who spends a full season in a rookie or Class A (short-season) league will receive a fourth option year.
A player has not spent at least 60 days on an active professional roster AND then at least 30 days on a disabled list in a season. Only after 60 days have been spent on an active professional roster does time spent on the disabled list count towards the 90-day threshold. As with the prior example, this cannot occur with players who spend a full season in a rookie or Class A (short season) league.
Once all of the options have been used up on a player, a player is considered “out of options” and a player must be placed on and clear waivers prior to being sent down to the minor leagues (there is also the “veterans’ consent” rule).
The option system was designed to prevent players from being buried in the minor leagues forever, by forcing teams to make a decision within a limited number of years on whether or not they can use a player in the Major Leagues. [13] Once placed on the protected 40-man roster the player knows his team will have to bring him up to the majors, or expose him to being claimed on waivers so that another team can bring him to the majors, all within three years. Options do not “reset” if a player is traded – he still has only the original three option years that began when he was first placed on a team’s 40-man roster.