The 2023 Major League Baseball season concluded last night when the Rangers defeated the Diamondbacks. As Texas celebrates, the baseball world will now go into offseason mode. Free agency begins today for all players that qualify, though there is a five-day period where they cannot sign with a new club. They are eligible to sign with their previous club, however, such as Joe Jiménez signing with Atlanta earlier today.
We at MLB Trade Rumors have been getting prepared in recent weeks, publishing our annual arbitration projections from Matt Swartz in early October. We’ve also previewed the upcoming free agent class one position at a time and taken a team-by-team look at the winter ahead in our Offseason Outlook series. We’ve also looked at some non-tender candidates and potential qualifying offer recipients.
Here are the key dates to keep in mind for the winter ahead…
NOVEMBER 2: Free agency begins for eligible players. This means they are removed from the roster of the club they finished 2023 with. As mentioned up top, they are able to re-sign with that club but can’t sign with a new team for five days. Trades of players on the 40-man roster are now permitted again for the first time since the trade deadline.
NOVEMBER 5: Gold Glove winners announced.
NOVEMBER 6: After the five-day waiting period, free agents will be eligible to sign with any club. This is also the deadline for decisions on club options, player options, opt-outs and mutual options. It is also the deadline for clubs to decide whether or not to issue qualifying offers to eligible players, with that deadline at 4:00 pm Central specifically.
NOVEMBER 7-9: General managers meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona.
NOVEMBER 13-16: BBWAA Awards week. The Rookie of the Year winners will be announced on the first date of this stretch, followed by Manager of the Year winners, Cy Young Award winners and Most Valuable Player winners. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, the results of the voting can potentially impact the service time of a young player or award draft picks to certain teams.
NOVEMBER 14: Players who received a qualifying offer have until this date at 3:00 pm Central to assess the market before deciding whether or not to accept it. The QO changes annually since it is an average of the top 125 contracts in the league. This year’s QO is expected to land around $20.5MM. A player is only eligible to receive a QO if they spent the entire 2023 season with just one club and have not received one before. Teams that sign a player who rejected a qualifying offer will be subject to draft pick forfeiture and perhaps a loss of international bonus pool money, while the player’s previous club receives draft pick compensation.
NOVEMBER 14: Rule 5 protection deadline. Teams have until this date to add players to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
NOVEMBER 14-16: Owners meetings in Arlington, Texas. The owners are set to vote on the Athletics’ planned move from Oakland to Las Vegas at this year’s meetings.
NOVEMBER 17: The non-tender deadline. By this date, teams have to decide whether or not to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players. They don’t have to agree to a salary, merely whether to keep the player on the roster or not. Players that are non-tendered become free agents without being exposed to waivers.
DECEMBER 3-6: Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee. This is often a key period in the offseason, with many marquee free agent signings and notable trades happening in or around the meetings.
DECEMBER 5: Amateur draft lottery. To discourage tanking, the new CBA introduced a lottery system to determine the order of the amateur draft. Last year, the first lottery resulted in the Pirates securing the first overall pick, which they later used on right-hander Paul Skenes in July.
DECEMBER 6: The Rule 5 draft. Teams with open 40-man roster spots are able to select eligible players from other clubs. A selected player cannot be optioned to the minors by the new club and needs to stay on the roster all year long or else be offered back to the original club.
DECEMBER 15: International signing period closes.
JANUARY 12: Deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit salary figures for 2024. Arbitration hearings will begin to take place at the end of January, though teams and players can agree to a salary at any point before a hearing takes place. However, many teams adopt the “file and trial” tactic, meaning that they’ll automatically opt to go to a hearing with any player who doesn’t agree to a salary by this date, with no further discussion about an arbitration-avoiding deal.
JANUARY 15: New international signing period opens. Most of the top international prospects will sign right away, often having made handshake deals years prior.
FEBRUARY 13: Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players.
FEBRUARY 18: Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for other players.
MARCH 20-21: Dodgers and Padres begin regular season with two games in Seoul, South Korea.
MARCH 28: Opening Day for all other teams. Active rosters reduced to 26 players.
Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I don’t really care for the season’s first games being on the other side of the world. I’m a Cubs fan, and I remember when the Cubs played the Mets in South Korea (I think), and it just didn’t have the same Opening Day feel. I love when Opening Day is the same for every team and there’s that excitement and controlled chaos all back on one day.
I like international games and such, but not to kick off the season.
Correction: it was Japan, not South Korea
Not to mention the time zones and getting up early.
I completely agree. The Mariners have done it a number of times. The time zone aspect is particularly difficult. I also agree that opening day should be the same for all teams. I don’t think the WS winner should get the first game and everyone else is the next day. Its supposed to be a “holiday” with everyone participating at the same time since its a new season, everyone has the same record.
If they’re going to do international games it should be in places where baseball isn’t already popular. Go somewhere to grow the game. NFL plays in Europe to drive up interest in new parts of the world. Take baseball there instead of where it’s already popular. They could do both though, the season is long enough
>55,000 crowd for both Cubs-Cards games in London this year. Coukd easily sell 2x 3-game series
NFL draws big crowds here also, 4 games in 2023
At the London Stadium, home of my Hammers <3
Paris is getting a game in 2025.
The NFL chose Europe because ut did not really have any international market and Europe was the most viable. I’d the NFL was trying to grow the game they’d be playing games in India or China.
MLB is doing exactly what they should be doing trying to grow their brand where there is a viable market for their product.
Much like how the NFL schedules games in London and Germany, scheduling baseball games in the Pacific region, it’s all about money and promoting their respective sports to international audiences
Dodgers-Diamondbacks in Australia was pretty fun, I thought.
Is it possible to have managers in the Free Agents list?
Impossible. No way that could be done
@Mike, MLB players who have reached free agency are a limited defined group who have qualified to become free agents. Free agent Managers would be a list of every single human being not under contract with a MLB team.
Tigers
“MLB players who have reached free agency are a limited defined group who have qualified to become free agents. Free agent Managers would be a list of every single human being not under contract with a MLB team.”
It’s the same thing with players
A team could sign you if you wanted. You could negotiate a MLB deal
I’d assume tho once signed as an amateur free agent the service time rules would then apply. I could be wrong I’m just speculating on that. That’s why I was viewing it as not a true free agent
You forgot one:
MARCH 29: The Angels are eliminated from playoff contention.
Well done.
You don’t know that. The team may be sold. If not, yes, I agree with you.
I live just outside Nashville. Does anyone know if it’s worth it to hang out around the winter meetings?
For people-watching, sure. But don’t expect to have access to the entire hotel lobby without proper credentials. They may set up a designated area for autograph-seekers. Some notable people will use a backdoor. Security will be stepped up and they may ask you to leave if they find you loitering. I use to work in major events planning.
None of it is like it used to be. Owners and players just want your money and could care less what fans think. Keep them at arms length, definately not what it used to be like, but flat out greed took over on all sides of sports.
Best to find a nearby watering hole known to be frequented by the press and drop anchor. Order lots of snacks and a couple of drinks* and take in the scenery. Most of all, tip well.
*I suppose you can order lots of drinks and a couple of snacks, but I’d advise against it.
“Holy Hot Stove”, Batman !
Let’s go !!
Thanks for posting this every year. It is very helpful to have all of these dates in one list.
I agree, Hemlock. Every year I cut and paste the off-season calendar into a Pages file.
Ready to be let down by Bob Castellini.
Lets gooooooo!
All I want for Christmas is the Redsox to bring Brasier back!!! ( maybe Betts) but more about Brais( two front line starters your choice Bres) but first Brais.( possibly Mike trout in trade) but got to have my Brais ,after him it’s all gravy… ( possibly Ort if released again) just remember Brais… no man is a failure who has ( at least one) friends
“often having made hand shake deals years prior” is hilarious. So the braves got nailed for doing literally what everyone lese does.