Been following this convo and you guys have danced around the answer which I think is pretty simple: To get the compensatory draft pick for winning ROTY you have to have 172 days of service time.
There is obviously no guarantee J. Holliday is going to win ROTY (or finish 2nd in voting where you also get a compensatory pick) but it would be very wasteful if they brought him up in late April or May and he finished 1st or 2nd in ROTY voting but they didn't get the compensatory pick.
Also, they brought Adley up on May 21st but that still qualified as a year of service time because he finished 2nd in ROTY voting even though he was up for far less than 172 days. So that likely factored in as well... why wait, because this year may qualify as a year of service time for JH regardless (if he has a great year).
Thirdly, as discussed, there's also a definite need for Holliday on the big league club with Kemp and Urias starting out so terribly.
So that should help answer the debate unless I'm mistaken about the compensatory draft pick as it relates to service time (which has gotten very complicated in recent years).
Lasty- I'm not sure what all the fuss about is not having Holliday start on the MLB Major League roster Opening Day. They needed a couple more weeks to get him adjusted to a new position, and it also takes a little pressure off him not having him start on the Opening Day and face all the LHP early in the season. Imagine if he started out like Urias or Kemp? I think it was wise to give him a couple weeks in AAA to get fully locked and loaded, kind of an extended Spring Training.
