My friends, my associates, my countrymen, baseball is over. The Texas Rangers are the world champions for the first time in their history. Bruce Bochy has won his fourth championship as manager. The cold weather is beginning to set in.
Now, my friends, let us gather around the hot stove and keep warm through the winter.
IMPORTANT DATES
11/6: Free agents are now officially allowed to sign places! Also any contract options (player, club, vesting, mutual, etc.) must be exercised or declined by this day at the latest. So this is the actual real "start" of the offseason for the purposes of ~tHe HoT sToVe~
11/5-11/16: All the various awards (GG, SS, MVP, Cy Young, etc.) will get announced during this window. Check out MLB's page here for specific dates: https://www.mlb.com/awards/2023 Preemptive congratulations to Cody Bellinger of the Chicago Cubs for his Comeback Player of the Year award.
11/7-11/9: GM Meetings, which are not the Winter Meetings™, please get it right. You might see some of the earliest FA deals happen here, but probably nothing major.
11/14: Deadline for players hit with the QO to accept or decline. Also, the last day for teams to set their 40-man for the purposes of the Rule 5 draft. Can't let Sleve McDichael go unprotected!
11/17: Deadline to tender arb-eligible players. That's right, you, too might get to experience the joys of watching your team non-tender a future postseason legend so your team's poor, destitute, downtrodden owner can save a couple mil!
12/3-12/6: The Winter Meetings™, which get hyped up every year as being the nexus of the Deal Zone™ but usually are kind of a dud. All the GMs go meet in one place (but it's not the GM Meetings, get it right!) and a bunch of players and agents go there too. Some guys might sign! Most will not! Exciting!
12/5: The dumb-as-shit MLB draft lottery, which is completely unnecessary, but, hey, look at us, kids, we're like basketball now, engagement! Algorithm!
12/6: Rule 5 Draft, where your team is guaranteed to lose a player you're sure is going to be a future star and pick up a player you're sure is dogshit garbage.
1/12: Last date for teams and players to file arb numbers. Most players will come to terms and that will be that, but a few will get dragged into arb hearings over like $250K and get really salty over it on Twitter. Drama!
2/13: Spring Training begins! Well, kind of. This is just pitchers and catchers reporting, but still! Baseball!
2/22: Spring Training actually begins! Come down to beautiful Arizona or tune in from home to watch all your favorite players get like 1 IP or 1 AB and then get subbed out for Willie Dustice and Rey McSriff the rest of the way.
3/28: Baseball is BACK.
STORYLINES TO WATCH
- Where the hell is Shohei Ohtani going? He wants to win, and he has been reported to be leaving the Angels. The Seattle Mariners are an option, because of the history they have with Japanese players (and, previously, Japanese ownership), but their owners are very cash-cautious. The Yankees and Red Sox want him, but they're both trying to limit payroll. The Padres have been reported to be in, but they're incredibly cash-poor and probably can't afford him, since they want to unload Juan Soto as they begin a restructuring year. The Dodgers are the perpetual wild card and ... well, I have a hard time imagining Andrew Friedman not handing Ohtani a blank check.
- Cody Bellinger. Comeback Player of the Year. The Cubs gave him a prove-it one-year contract, and, hoo boy, did he prove it. He's still 29, and he's shown that he can still be a great defender in center and an absolute magician at 1st. The Cubs have their outfield figured out, more or less, with Happ in left, Suzuki in right and hopefully Pete Crow-Armstrong in center. But he had a wonderful year and a ton of teams can use a player like him. Don't get cheap, Tom Ricketts.
- The FUCK are the Yankees doing? I don't have much more to say on the subject than that.
Let us huddle 'round the fire and stay warm. Pitchers and catchers report in just a few short months.
Now, my friends, let us gather around the hot stove and keep warm through the winter.
IMPORTANT DATES
11/6: Free agents are now officially allowed to sign places! Also any contract options (player, club, vesting, mutual, etc.) must be exercised or declined by this day at the latest. So this is the actual real "start" of the offseason for the purposes of ~tHe HoT sToVe~
11/5-11/16: All the various awards (GG, SS, MVP, Cy Young, etc.) will get announced during this window. Check out MLB's page here for specific dates: https://www.mlb.com/awards/2023 Preemptive congratulations to Cody Bellinger of the Chicago Cubs for his Comeback Player of the Year award.
11/7-11/9: GM Meetings, which are not the Winter Meetings™, please get it right. You might see some of the earliest FA deals happen here, but probably nothing major.
11/14: Deadline for players hit with the QO to accept or decline. Also, the last day for teams to set their 40-man for the purposes of the Rule 5 draft. Can't let Sleve McDichael go unprotected!
11/17: Deadline to tender arb-eligible players. That's right, you, too might get to experience the joys of watching your team non-tender a future postseason legend so your team's poor, destitute, downtrodden owner can save a couple mil!
12/3-12/6: The Winter Meetings™, which get hyped up every year as being the nexus of the Deal Zone™ but usually are kind of a dud. All the GMs go meet in one place (but it's not the GM Meetings, get it right!) and a bunch of players and agents go there too. Some guys might sign! Most will not! Exciting!
12/5: The dumb-as-shit MLB draft lottery, which is completely unnecessary, but, hey, look at us, kids, we're like basketball now, engagement! Algorithm!
12/6: Rule 5 Draft, where your team is guaranteed to lose a player you're sure is going to be a future star and pick up a player you're sure is dogshit garbage.
1/12: Last date for teams and players to file arb numbers. Most players will come to terms and that will be that, but a few will get dragged into arb hearings over like $250K and get really salty over it on Twitter. Drama!
2/13: Spring Training begins! Well, kind of. This is just pitchers and catchers reporting, but still! Baseball!
2/22: Spring Training actually begins! Come down to beautiful Arizona or tune in from home to watch all your favorite players get like 1 IP or 1 AB and then get subbed out for Willie Dustice and Rey McSriff the rest of the way.
3/28: Baseball is BACK.
STORYLINES TO WATCH
- Where the hell is Shohei Ohtani going? He wants to win, and he has been reported to be leaving the Angels. The Seattle Mariners are an option, because of the history they have with Japanese players (and, previously, Japanese ownership), but their owners are very cash-cautious. The Yankees and Red Sox want him, but they're both trying to limit payroll. The Padres have been reported to be in, but they're incredibly cash-poor and probably can't afford him, since they want to unload Juan Soto as they begin a restructuring year. The Dodgers are the perpetual wild card and ... well, I have a hard time imagining Andrew Friedman not handing Ohtani a blank check.
- Cody Bellinger. Comeback Player of the Year. The Cubs gave him a prove-it one-year contract, and, hoo boy, did he prove it. He's still 29, and he's shown that he can still be a great defender in center and an absolute magician at 1st. The Cubs have their outfield figured out, more or less, with Happ in left, Suzuki in right and hopefully Pete Crow-Armstrong in center. But he had a wonderful year and a ton of teams can use a player like him. Don't get cheap, Tom Ricketts.
- The FUCK are the Yankees doing? I don't have much more to say on the subject than that.
Let us huddle 'round the fire and stay warm. Pitchers and catchers report in just a few short months.
