Full guide to offseason dates, rules, terms
Anthony Castrovince
@castrovinceBaseball’s offseason is its own season, a time of banter and bartering and signings big and small.
Fans of all 30 Major League clubs have an emotional stake in what tactics those teams take to set themselves up for the upcoming season, which is why the “Hot Stove league,” as it is commonly called, often piques rooting interest as much as the actual games.
The "Hot Stove," however, is a league with a lot of jargon, dates and deadlines that the average fans might not grasp. So here’s a handy guide to the ins and outs of the offseason.
When does free agency begin?
Officially, players become free agents the day after the conclusion of the World Series, which is Oct. 31, 2024. However, they cannot sign with a new team until 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 4, 2024, five days after the conclusion of the World Series. However, they cannot sign with a new team until 5 p.m. ET five days after the conclusion of the World Series. So while teams are able to reach out to player representatives, the five-day period serves as an exclusive window in which teams can retain their departing free agents. Quite often, this is a period with very little activity.
What about trades?
Trades involving players signed to Major League contracts are prohibited from the Trade Deadline to the conclusion of the World Series. The trade market opens up again the day after the World Series finale.
What is a contract option?
An option is a potential extension to a player contract, negotiated at the time the contract is signed. If the option is not exercised, the player becomes a free agent.
A “club option” means the team has the full authority to decide whether the option will be exercised. Often, this type of option includes a buyout if it is not exercised, meaning the club must pay the player a negotiated fraction of the value of the option year. So if the team has determined the player’s performance will not merit the value of the option, it can pay the buyout instead, allowing the player to become a free agent.
Another form of option is the “player option” in which the player is the one who determines whether to exercise the option year.
A “mutual option” is exercised only if the team and player both agree to it.
A “vesting option” is an option that becomes guaranteed only if the player reaches certain defined statistical thresholds in the previous season. (Typically, these are based on plate appearances, innings, games played or games finished.)
When must options be exercised?
Within five days of the conclusion of the World Series.
What is an opt-out?
A contract provision that allows a player to opt out of his remaining contract and become a free agent. Opt-outs have become more common in recent years, and they are a means for players to potentially cash in if they perform well in the initial years of a contract.
A prominent example is Xander Bogaerts signing a six-year, $120 million contract with the Red Sox prior to the 2019 season. The deal had an opt-out after the third year. Bogaerts exercised it and then signed an 11-year, $280 million contract with the Padres over the 2022-23 offseason.
What is a qualifying offer? What are the key deadlines?
A qualifying offer is a means by which teams can receive Draft-pick compensation when a departing free agent signs with another club.
Teams can receive compensation only if they have made a qualifying offer to the free agent, and such an offer can only be made to players who have not received a qualifying offer before and who were on the team’s roster for the entire season (i.e., were not acquired via trade midseason).
The qualifying offer is a one-year offer worth the mean salary of MLB’s 125 highest-paid players; this year, that amount is $21.05 million. The value, which changes by the year, was $20.325 million for the 2023-24 offseason. This year, offers must be made to eligible players within five days of the conclusion of the World Series, and players then have until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 19 to accept.
If the free agent accepts the qualifying offer, he is bound to his team from the previous season for another season. If he does not accept the offer, he is free to explore free agency. If he signs elsewhere prior to the next amateur Draft, the team that lost him receives a compensatory Draft pick. The team that signs a player who rejected the qualifying offer is subject to the loss of one or more Draft picks (though a team’s highest first-round pick is exempt from forfeiture).
Click here for a more in-depth look at the factors that determine which specific Draft-pick positions are gained or surrendered in this process.
What is salary arbitration?
Players with three or more years but less than six years of Major League service time are eligible for salary arbitration if they do not already have a contract in place for the upcoming season. Players with less than three but more than two years of service can also qualify if they meet a certain service-time threshold that changes by the year (these are known as Super Two players).
If arbitration-eligible players and their teams have not agreed to a contract by a certain date in mid-January, they must both put forth a salary figure for the upcoming season and a hearing is scheduled for February. If they still can’t come to an agreement by the time of the hearing, a panel of arbitrators listens to each side’s case and then selects one of the two salary figures (nothing in between) as the player’s salary for the upcoming season.
What does it mean to be non-tendered?
When a club “non-tenders” a player on its 40-man roster (i.e., not yet eligible for free agency), it has declined to give that player a contract for the upcoming season. The player then becomes a free agent.
When this happens, it is typically because the player’s likely raise in the arbitration process exceeds what the club projects his on-field value to be. Or a club can non-tender a player simply to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
The decisions made at the non-tender deadline can often significantly expand the free-agent player pool.
When is the non-tender deadline?
Nov. 22, 2024
What is the Rule 5 Draft?
A draft that allows clubs that do not have a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man players from other organizations. Essentially, it is an avenue for teams to identify and give a Major League opportunity to players that they feel have been held back elsewhere.
Players signed at age 18 or younger must be added to their club’s 40-man roster within five seasons or else become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players signed at 19 or older must be protected within four seasons.
Like the amateur Draft (officially known as the Rule 4 Draft), the Rule 5 Draft is held in reverse order of standings from the previous season. Unlike the amateur Draft, not every club will make a selection in the Rule 5. Those that do must pay $100,000 to the club from which the player was selected, and the player must remain on the new club’s 26-man roster (or injured list) for the entirety of the following season or else be placed on outright waivers. If the player clears waivers, he must be offered back to his original team for $50,000 and can be outrighted to the Minors only if his original team does not take him back. (This prevents teams from pilfering players from other teams and then stashing them in their Minor League system.)
When is the Rule 5 Draft?
This winter’s Rule 5 Draft will be held Dec. 11.
Why is the offseason called the Hot Stove?
The term is said to date back to the 19th century in small-town America, where people convened at general stores or post offices in the winter months and discussed various topics -- baseball among them -- while warmed by a pot-bellied iron stove. As the 20th century progressed and the sport took on added prominence in the country, “Hot Stove” came to be embraced by sportswriters as a means of describing offseason chatter and speculation that bridges the gap between the end of a season and the start of Spring Training.