The 2017 season came to a conclusion last night when the Astros closed out a Game 7 victory over the Dodgers, officially (and remarkably) making Sports Illustrated’s famous 2014 prediction a reality. Houston’s aggressive rebuilding tactics led to the selections of George Springer (No. 11), Carlos Correa (No. 1), Lance McCullers (No. 41) and Alex Bregman (No. 2) near the top of their respective drafts, while the team’s front office, scouting department and player development staff deserve praise for compiling a roster that is rife with hidden gems.
Dallas Keuchel, a seventh-round pick in ’09, blossomed into one of baseball’s best starters over the past few years in Houston. Waiver claims like Collin McHugh and Will Harris have cemented themselves as big leaguers. Marwin Gonzalez, a Rule 5 pick out of the Cubs organization, was one of the game’s most versatile and most valuable players in 2017. Some raised an eyebrow at last winter’s two-year deal for Charlie Morton after he made just four starts in 2016, but he capped a terrific season with a heroic four-inning relief appearance in Game 7, clinching the first World Series in franchise history.
American League MVP candidate Jose Altuve came to the Astros as an unheralded international signing that received a mere $15K bonus back in 2007. And, of course, general manager Jeff Luhnow and his staff deserve credit for their dramatic, last-minute acquisition of Justin Verlander, who looked better than ever for the Astros down the stretch and took home ALCS MVP honors with 16 innings of one-run ball.
While congratulations are in order for the Astros, the front office won’t spend too much time celebrating. Like baseball’s other 29 teams, they’ll look ahead to the 2018 season (and beyond) with visions of a future World Series Championship firmly in their sights. Here are some of the key dates of the MLB offseason, which kicks off today…
- Nov. 2: Commencement of a five-day, exclusive negotiation window that teams have with their own free agents. (Also, MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agent rankings with predictions!)
- Nov. 4: Deadline for players with opt-out clauses (e.g. Justin Upton, Masahiro Tanaka) to exercise those provisions.
- Nov. 6: The deadline for MLB clubs to formally issue one-year qualifying offers (valued at $17.4MM this offseason, as reported by MLBTR) to free agents is 5:00pm ET. Those players will have 10 days to weigh the offers and can negotiate with other clubs during that 10-day window. After that 5pm deadline, all free agents are eligible to begin negotiating with other teams.
- Nov. 13-16: General Managers’ meetings take place in Orlando, Fla.
- Nov. 20: Deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
- Dec. 1: Deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.
- Dec. 10-14: MLB’s annual Winter Meetings take place in Orlando, Fla.
- Dec. 14: The Rule 5 Draft is held on the final day of the Winter Meetings.
- Jan. 13: Arbitration exchange day — the date on which teams and players must exchange filing numbers for arbitration. Hearings, if necessary, typically begin in early February.
- Mar. 29: Opening Day! Baseball is back.
Names like J.D. Martinez, Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas headline the 2017-18 class of MLB free agents. We’ll be running our Top 50 Free Agent rankings, which will include contract projections and predictions as to where each of the 50 will sign, later this afternoon.
The offseason figures to, as always, bring plenty of action on the trade front as well (tip of the cap to Jerry Dipoto). At the forefront of this winter’s trade talks, of course, will be Giancarlo Stanton. Several other names will be bandied about the rumor mill as well, though, with players like Ian Kinsler, Jose Abreu, Dee Gordon, Brad Hand and many others standing out as offseason trade candidates.
MLBTR readers can bookmark our new and improved Free Agent Tracker as a useful offseason resource. It can be filtered by position, team, signing status, handedness, qualifying offers, and contract years, amounts, and options. We’ll be updating that and our list of free agents throughout the offseason as the free-agent landscape begins to take shape.
You can also follow along with MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook series to get a feel for the decisions that each of the league’s 30 teams will face over the winter and some of the routes they could take to Opening Day 2018. We at MLBTR look forward to another active offseason of hot stove coverage and hope you’ll follow along with us throughout the process!
News on Otani?
Go to main page and scroll down like 4 articles.
Thanks missed it
News is still the same, Phillies have no interest in Otani.
Thanks for the great list of important dates.
LOL why would I get a down vote because I think that the inclusion of important baseball dates this off season was something to be thankful.
I see a lot of comments get down voted for no reason in every article it seems. No matter if it is a comment like yours or an intelligent response in a discussion. My comment will likely get down voted lol
As Braves fans brace for impact. Here we go…
After finishing the big bowl of sour grapes I had for breakfast , I thought I’d bring up what a sound strategy tanking for years at a time and reaping the rewards of the resulting high first-round picks is.
So when is the punishment for the Braves coming out?
ERIC HOSMER
M E T S
Love the app. I check it daily. Great season and thanks for all the content/updates.
Congratulations Houston Astros world Series Champs!
Wonder if Dave Roberts returns to the dodgers? he massively mismanaged the pitching staff during the WS.
Also, Astros beat Red Sox and Yankees and they both let go of their managers.
What did you see as massive mistakes in his handling of the pitching staff?
I thought Dave Roberts over managed during the World Series just as Joe Maddon did in the Championship Series (Just can’t help himself). Although I did like how Roberts used all his players, I wouldn’t say it was a massive over-management either. His team was built that way. However, during WS games, I thought he pulled pitchers too soon. Growing up when Mike Marshall, Rollie Fingers, John Hiller, etc dominated bullpens for 3+ innings, I won’t criticize a manager for overusing a relief pitcher, especially a former starter. However, Roberts began to hyper manage too early in the game. For example, did he need to pull Rich Hill so soon?.
Conversely, when a pitcher was pitching well, AJ Hinch allowed him to remain on the mound. For example, he allowed Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton to finish their games. He didn’t change pitchers until they gave him a reason to. He always had rested pitchers on hand.
He certainly overused Morrow for one. Their starting pitching would have been better off if the front office traded for Verlander instead of Darvish, but a number of baseball experts and fans said Verlander was washed up.
Wish the dodgers had won the world series but oh well. As a Royals fan, I’m nervous and excited about the off-season. If both Hosmer and Moustakas leave, I want to see who will replace them. I’m hoping O’hearn can take over 1st base maybe later in the season. As of right now, rumor has it that Cuthbert and Dozier will take over for 1st and 3rd