Because he does/didn't have a regular minor league deal. His call up date had/has no effect on when he hits FA. He's still subject to service time rules. Since it's a near absolute certainty he'll opt into arbitration, at that point his original contract is pretty much ripped up. I suppose it's remotely possible that somehow he can be arbitration eligible and still subject to his 10 year guarantee, but I've never heard of that happening and it's pretty illogical(arbitration by definition means you don't have a guaranteed deal). It's not even that, it was a 9 year deal. There's this prevailing thought that Soler would get auto-free agency after the 2020 season no matter how much service time he'd accrued and it's never made any sense to me. Even if somehow he never opted for arbitration, if he only had 5 years, 60 days service time when his original major league contract ended, he'd go to arbitration just like anybody else would. I've probably asked, and gotten an answer, this question a dozen times but wasn't the "automatic" free agency assumed based on what would have to be his final potential option year? Wouldn't the inability to be sent back down result in the inevitable service time? Soler gets a 4th option year.