The World Series has just finished, so it’s time to look ahead. The MLB does not sleep in the off-season either. While November is the month of the awards, December sees everything looking towards Orlando/Florida. SPOX gives an overview of upcoming events in the best baseball league in the world.
With the last out in the World Series, the hot phase of the winter is already beginning – the Free Agency! For five days the teams will have an exclusive negotiation window with their own players who will become free agents.
But how do you actually become a Free Agent? The best way to do this is to have played in the league for at least six years and no longer have a valid contract for the coming season. However, it also works earlier if a team simply doesn’t offer a contract to its player anymore, i. e.”non-tendered”. Even then, the player becomes a Free Agent.
Five days after the end of the World Series, players who become Free Agents – this year at the current level of 148 – are allowed to negotiate and sign with every team in the league.
The number of free agents has not yet been fully determined, as some players like Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees) are still in the process of deciding whether they will make use of their opt-out clause. Meanwhile, with Justin Upton, one of them has already renounced the same and signed a new contract directly.
Decisions on contract options for the coming season are also pending. The Seattle Mariners, for example, decided to let the options for Hisashi Iwakuma and Yovani Gallardo expire, so that they now become free agents.
An important part of the off-season is the annual awards for the season. The 6th. The candidates will be announced on the 7th of November and the first awards will be announced on the 7th of November.
The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards on the 7th day of the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards will be held. November. These are the prizes for the best field players in their respective positions. From pitcher to right fielder, every position in each league gets a golden glove.
On the 9th. On November 11th, the offensive counterpart to the Gold Gloves, the so-called Louisville Silver Sluggers, follows. These silver baseball bats are awarded to the best offensive player in each league. The only difference between the National and American League: In the NL, a pitcher receives the award, but in the AL, a Designated Hitter.
On the 10th. On November 11, the Defensive Player of the Year will be honored, followed three days later by the Jackie Robinson Rookies of the Year. The latter are the prices that are probably the easiest to guess this year – Aaron Judge in the AL, Cody Bellinger in the NL.
The managers of the year will be invited to attend on 14. November 15th, the best pitcher will receive their Cy Young Awards on 15th November. and the most valuable players of the year enter the stage on 16. November. This is where the duel between Judge and Jose Altuve takes place.
Winter is the time to meet. As a result, there are two major meetings, both this year in sunny Orlando/Florida. From 13. till 16. At the beginning of November, only the General Managers will be there to exchange views and discuss various organisational matters. Initial trade negotiations are also conducted here as a rule.
The more famous and biggest event of the off-season will finally take place from 10. till 14. December. Once again in Orlando, but this time with a full chapel, the official winter meetings are taking place. Team owners, front-office people, GMs and managers are on site, as well as the League commissioner and his assistants, in order to decide on the usual exchange of information as well as on possible rule adjustments and, in most cases, to conduct concrete trade negotiations.
What’s more, a large number of players’ agents and some coveted free agents take part in this meeting. It is therefore not uncommon that the foundations for possible contracts are laid there or even nails are made with brains. After the winter meetings, however, there is traditionally a quiet time – until the holidays, there is almost nothing left until January.
On the last day of the Winter Meetings, Rule 5 Draft takes place before the officials break off their tents. In contrast to the traditional Entry Draft, which takes place during the MLB season in June, the available players here are not amateurs but minor league players of the MLB teams.
But who exactly is available in this draft? Players who have signed a professional contract at least 19 years of age and have played professionally for at least four years. Or players who have signed up at least 18 years of age and played professionally for five years.
However, this does not apply to players who meet these criteria but are in the 40-player squad of an MLB franchise. These are protected. The purpose of this draft is basically to give people who are crawling around in the Minors a better chance to gain a foothold in the MLB – if not in the current organization, then in another one.
In order to achieve this goal, however, it is also imperative that a player selected in Rule 5 draft must be in the 25-player squad of his new team throughout the entire season – or must be active for at least 90 days of a season, which would become relevant in the event of injury.
If a club chooses a player, it must not only lead him/her in the 25-man squad, but must also pay $50,000 to the retiring club. However, he can also return it to the original team and then charge a fee of $25,000 for it. Such players can also be traded, and the following team must follow the same rules.
If a team has no free space in the 40-player squad, it automatically does not participate in Rule 5 draft because a selected player would take a place in the squad.
It’s rare, but sometimes a team finds a real gem in this draft. The best known players who have made the leap into the MLB via Rule 5 draft were such greats as Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente, Cy-Young winner Johan Santana and MVP Josh Hamilton.
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.