Baseball’s offseason calendar largely flows from the end of the World Series. Last night’s thrilling game seven, in which the Nationals prevailed over the Astros, also served as a starting point for several key dates.
Today
- Eligible players officially file for major or minor-league free agency
November 4
- End of “quiet period” during which teams have exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents
- Deadline to issue qualifying offers ($17.8MM) to eligible free agents
- Deadline to exercise or decline options and opt-outs (unless sooner by operation of contract; Stephen Strasburg & Aroldis Chapman reportedly must decide by November 2)
November 11-14
- General Manager Meetings (Scottsdale, AZ)
November 14
- Deadline for qualifying offer recipients to accept or reject
November 20
- Deadline for adding Rule 5-draft eligible players to 40-man roster
December 2
- Non-tender deadline
[RELATED: MLBTR Arbitration Projections]
December 9-12
- Winter Meetings (San Diego, CA)
December 12
- Rule 5 Draft
January 10
- Deadline to exchange arbitration filing figures if agreement has yet to be reached
February 3-21
- Arbitration hearing period
Mid-February
- Spring Training commences
March 26
- Opening Day
So teams have 15 days to resign players? And Free agents who don’t accept QO can sign on Nov 15th?
No. Teams have through Monday to re-sign their own players without other teams being allowed to speak with them. On 11/05, they’re free to sign wherever. If a QO offer free agent would sign before 11/15, it’s automatically declined by the player.
I read it wrong. Thank you very much!
No problem my good sir. Happy to help
There’s a date missing.
March 27th:
-earliest date that Scott Boras clients are allowed to sign
Let the madness begin!
Now I know the days in November and December when I won’t get any work done.
I spend more time on baseball sites this time of year than spending my time with my wife, ahh life is good. :)
…she told me that…..
Of course, she volunteers at the homeless shelter. SWISH (nothing but net)
OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent comeback sir. Haha
Congrats to the Nats and their fans on a hell of a World Series win! Sucks to be Bryce Harper right now lol.
Can’t wait for free agency. Looking forward to my Dodgers doing nothing like always.
Ha-ha! That said, I do expect the Dodgers to be busy this offseason, especially in the trade market. There has already been the report about their interest in Indians SS Francisco Lindor which would have a cascade effect on the rest of their infield.
LA also has an over-abundance of left-handed hitting OF’s which makes a deal involving one of them probable, most likely Joc Pederson or Alex Verdugo, Either of them would solve two problem areas for the my White Sox, the need for a lefty bat to balance out a batting order that is heavily right-handed as well as filling their void in RF.
If a deal emerges with the Indians, Verdugo might very well be a centerpiece in that trade as well.
is there a site to track minor league free agents?
Where at in Scottsdale?
The Nationals are dressing up as a World Series Champion for Halloween.
No need for them to masquerade. On the other hand, Bryce Harper might want to trick or treat in a Nats uniform as he walks the streets of Henderson, Nevada today.
General Manager Meetings (Scottsdale, AZ)
Winter Meetings (San Diego, CA)
So tough being a GM. All the cheap motel rooms and bad food.
There is a difference between paradise valley and Scottsdale. There are some bad spot within Scottsdale and you cannot forget how close phx is. There are some really bad areas within San Diego.
Is that an exceptionally early opening day (no complaints!), or is my aging memory simply failing me?
That’s the new normal as players wanted more off days during the season.
At least there’s no weird overseas opening series, when everyone else still has a week of spring training.
Wish I could press a button and have these all put on my calendar lol. Kinda lame I know
I’d press that button.
Congratulations to the Nationals and their fans. Being a Phillies fan, they’ll always be a rivalry, but as a baseball fan, what they accomplished was nothing short of incredible and a joy to watch. And for that, I say thank you. And a special thank you to the fans for their “lock him up” chants during game 5
And so begins the yearly player agent whinefest because their players are not getting overpaid beyond reason, followed by the media whine about a ‘slow market’.
Then the financially ignorant will chime in on the boards with gems like ‘the teams make billions because they ONLY have to pay player salaries and everything else is profit’. Or, my team sucks because they won’t go out and pay to bring in the top five past their prime agents.
Ah yes, time to brew up some cocoa and watch the morons come out in droves. At least the agents have a solid reason to whine. The media, with their click-baiting vitriol that will follow with the lemmings jumping in both feet at a time, are just shameful. Good stuff..