Every major date to circle on MLB’s offseason calendar
With the World Series coming to a close and the Atlanta Braves themselves wasting no time in getting their offseason wheeling-and-dealing started, now is a pretty good time to take a look at the most important dates to keep an Eye on
October 31: Free Agents File
All eligible players are filing for free agency and this is also the beginning of the five-day “quiet period” where teams are negotiating with their own free agents without being able to actually sign them. This is also the time when it’s time to decide whether or not to extend the Qualifying Offer, which will be a one-year deal worth $21.05 million. As you can imagine, Max Fried is a prime candidate to receive a QO. If they do give him the QO, he has 10 days to accept or decline it. If Fried declines the QO and ends up with a new team, then the Braves will receive draft pick compensation.
In addition to Fried, John Brebbia, Jesse Chavez, Adam Duvall, Whit Merrifield, A.J. Minter, Charlie Morton and Gio Urshela are currently set to become free agents.
November 3: Rawlings Gold Glove Winners announced
The Gold Gloves will be awarded on Sunday, November 3 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Chris Sale and Matt Olson are currently finalists at pitcher and first base, respectively.
November 4: Free Agency Opens
Free agents are free to sign with any club that they desire. This is also the last day where teams can give out Qualifying Offers to anybody who’s eligible.
November 4: 60-day injured list reinstatement
Any players who are on the 60-day IL are required to be reinstated five days after the World Series ends. This will affect OF Ronald Acuña Jr., LHP Ray Kerr, LHP Angel Perdomo, RHP Spencer Strider and RHP Huascar Ynoa, as those five Braves players are currently on the 60-day IL.
November 4: Contract options deadline
This is the deadline for clubs and players to to either exercise or decline any options that re in their contract. As of right now, the Braves have four players with contract options: DH Marcell Ozuna ($16 million), C Travis d’Arnaud ($8 million), RHP Luke Jackson ($7 million) and LHP Aaron Bummer ($7 million).
November 5-7: GM Meetings in San Antonio, Executive of the Year Award
Not to be confused with the Winter Meetings which take place later on in the offseason, the GM Meetings are an annual gathering where reps from all 30 MLB teams and all 120 MiLB affiliates sit down to talk business. Usually this is where we start to see the groundwork being laid for trades and other offseason moves.
Also, the Executive of the Year Award will be announced on the night of November 5.
November 8: Platinum Glove Award
Five days after the Gold Glove Award winners are anounced, the winners will travel to the Rawlings Gold Glove Dinner in New York City. That will be where the Platinum Glove Award will be given to the best overall defensive player in each league.
November 11: BBWAA Award Finalists Announced
Here, we’ll see finalists announced for the BBWAA’s Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, the Cy Young Award and the MVP award.
November 12: Louisville Silver Slugger Awards announced
The best hitters at each position (including utility players) will receive their Silver Sluggers on this day.
November 14: Hank Aaron Award, Comeback Player of the Year, Relievers of the Year along with All-MLB First and Second teams announced
Award season will be in full swing at this point, as a slew of awards and the All-MLB teams are set to be announced. This will be part of All-MLB Weekend from November 13 through November 16 and taking place in LAs Vegas.
November 18: Rookie of the Year Winners announced
BBWAA awards week kicks off with the top rookies in each league receiving their respective Jackie Robinson Award.
November 19-21: Owner Meetings in New York
The owner meetings will be held in New York this season from November 19 through November 21. If you’re looking for anything big this weekend, you might want to look elsewhere since nothing major appears to be taking place this offseason.
November 19: Qualifying offer deadline
This is the deadline for any players who received Qualifying Offers to either accept or decline. Any player who has not accepted a deal by this point will grant their former team draft pick compensation if they end up on another team.
November 19: Rule 5 protection date
This is the deadline for players to be protected from the Rule 5 draft by being added to the 40-man roster.
November 19: Manager of the Year Awards announced
The Manager of the Year for both the NL and the AL will be announced on this evening.
November 20: Cy Young Awards announced
The Cy Young Award winners will be announced on this day. It would not be shocking at all if Chris Sale ends up winning the 2024 NL Cy Young Award.
November 21: MVP awards announced
The MVP Award for both the NL and the AL will be announced.
November 22: Non-tender deadline
This is the deadline for teams to offer up a contract for their pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players ahead of 2025. This isn’t the deadline to sign a contract but it is the deadline to serve up an offer. Players who don’t receive contracts by this date will be considered as “non-tendered” and will enter free agency. Braves players currently eligible for arbitration include Cavan Biggio, Jarred Kelenic, Ramón Laureano, Dylan Lee, Eli White and Huascar Ynoa.
TBD: Hall of Fame Ballot released
At some point in November, we’ll have a date in which the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot will be revealed on MLB Network. Votes will be tallied over the course of the next few weeks.
December 8-12: Winter Meetings in Dallas
Typically the busiest portion of the offseason and if we’re lucky, we’ll really start seeing the hot stove pop off. GMs can sit down and talk turkey with other GMs and agents as well, which usually results in rumors floating around and the groundwork of deals getting started and/or finished.
December 8: The Classic Baseball Era Committee meeting
The Hall of Fame’s Classic Baseball Era Committee will consider “players, managers, executives, pioneers and/or umpires who made their greatest impact on the game through 1979. We’ll know who’s on this ballot by November 4 and we’ll know who’s entering the Hall of Fame on this day.
December 10: MLB Draft Lottery
The top six picks of next year’s MLB Draft will be determined via the draft lottery at the Winter Olympics. As of right now, the Rockies and Marlins are currently the co-favorites to land the No. 1 overall pick, as they both have a 22.45 percent chance of getting the top pick The Angels have a 17.96 percent shot and the Nationals have a 10.2 percent chance. The White Sox are not eligible for the lottery since teams that pay into revenue sharing can’t pick in the lottery places for back-to-back years.
December 11: Ford Frick Award winner announced
This award is presented every year to a broadcaster who has made “major contributions to baseball.”
December 11: Rule 5 Draft
MiLB players who are not on a team’s 40-man roster but have been in professional baseball for four (for college players) or five (for high schoolers) are eligible to be picked in the Rule 5 Draft. Any player selected during the Major League portion of the draft must remain on the selecting team’s active roster for the entire season or be offered back to their original club
January 10: Salary Arbitration figures exchange date
Players who are eligible for arbitration and the teams will formally exchange potential salary figures on this particular date. Usually, this is a hard deadline for the Braves since they’ve acted as a “file-and-trial” team, so they will have either come to an agreement with their arbitration-eligible players by now or they’ll be heading to the arbitration hearing.
January 15: International Signing Period opens
From this day until December 15, 2025, all 30 teams will have the opportunity to bring in players from the international free agency market.
January 21: Hall of Fame voting results announced
The Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be announced on this day. Former Braves star outfielder Andruw Jones will be on the ballot once again and he’s still got a bit of work to do in order to eventually make it in.
January 27-February 14: Arbitration hearings
The arbitration hearings between players and teams who couldn’t come to an agreement back on the January 10 deadline will take place during this period. Both parties will argue their cases and an independent arbitrator will set the salary for the player.
Mid-February: Players report for spring training
The Super Bowl will take place on February 11 so once football gets finished on that Sunday, we’ll start seeing pitchers and catchers report for camp during the following week.
February 20: Spring training games begin
The Los Angeles Dodgers will host the Chicago Cubs at Camelback Ranch on February 20 to kick off spring training. The Braves will start their Grapefruit League campaign in Fort Myers against the Twins.
March 18-19: Tokyo Series
For the first time since 2019, Major League Baseball will play regular season baseball games in Japan. The Tokyo Dome will be the venue to the curtain-opener for the 2025 MLB season, as the Dodgers will take on the Cubs for two games.
March 27: Opening Day
The Atlanta Braves will start their 2025 regular season campaign in San Diego with the first of a four-game series against the Padres.