As the season comes to a close after an awful season, there is a possibility of some hope since the team played better in late August to the end of the season.
Here are all the important dates you need to know for the 2018-19 MLB offseason. Some of them do involve the Royals, such as:
Oct. 29: As of 9 a.m. ET on Monday, all eligible players are free agents (Escobar - good riddance).
Oct. 31: Most contract option decisions are due on this date (Hammel should be declined, resulting $2 million buyout and Peralta should be accepted, resulting $3 million increase to the payroll, and could be future flip for additional minor leaguers if he performs well).
Nov. 6-8: General manager meetings in Carlsbad, California.
Nov. 12: Deadline for free agents to accept or reject the qualifying offer.
Nov. 14-15: Owners meetings in Atlanta (possible future CBA discussions).
Nov. 20: Deadline for teams to add eligible minor leaguers to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.
Spoiler!
The Royals announced they've added RHPs Arnaldo Hernandez, Josh Staumont and Scott Blewett to the 40-man roster, protecting them from next month's Rule 5 draft. Blewett appeared to take a big step in the Arizona Fall League. The 40-man roster is full right now.
Nov. 26-29: MLB Players Association executive board meeting in Dallas (possible future CBA discussions).
Nov. 30: Non-tender deadline.
Dec. 9-13: Winter Meetings in Las Vegas. This is typically when all offseason hell breaks loose.
Dec. 13: Rule 5 Draft (could see the Royals taking a stab here).
Jan. 11: Deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit 2019 salary figures (I believe KC has some arb-eligible players).
Feb. 1-20: Arbitration hearings. You win some, you lose some.
Mid-Feb. : SPRING TRAINING!
As usual, let's have a good off-season discussion on ways that the Royals can/should/would do to improve. I will try to update the OP as the off-season goes along. And Duncan, you're more than welcome to provide us some information that I can add onto the OP. Just let me know.
In corresponding roster moves, Jerry Vasto has been claimed by the Cubs and Nate Karns has been sent outright to Omaha. Karns will elect free agency in lieu of accepting the assignment.
Indians don’t have a lot of payroll flexibility and didn’t issue any qualifying offers. Brantley, Allen, and Miller are probably all gone.
Their window is probably closed.
I’m glad the Maurer insanity is finally over.
That trade made sense at the time it was made and was universally reviewed well. Hindsight 20/20 on it, obviously.
But trading Buchter to facilitate dumping some salary made it worse.
At the time of the deal, you could at least look at the deal and say you’re getting similar control over Buchter, who you could expect to be a good reliever, too.
The salary dump-related deals of Soria, Buchter, and Alexander are just awful, like most deals where you move valuable assets just to save money.
The White Sox got a former first round pick for Soria (who pitched well in AA Biloxi after the deal).
Buchter and Alexander could have been moved, too.
Probably the worst misfires of Moore’s career, other than the Kennedy contract. And obviously we’re at the time of the deals, too. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Indians don’t have a lot of payroll flexibility and didn’t issue any qualifying offers. Brantley, Allen, and Miller are probably all gone.
Their window is probably closed.
I’m glad the Maurer insanity is finally over.
That trade made sense at the time it was made and was universally reviewed well. Hindsight 20/20 on it, obviously.
But trading Buchter to facilitate dumping some salary made it worse.
At the time of the deal, you could at least look at the deal and say you’re getting similar control over Buchter, who you could expect to be a good reliever, too.
The salary dump-related deals of Soria, Buchter, and Alexander are just awful, like most deals where you move valuable assets just to save money.
The White Sox got a former first round pick for Soria (who pitched well in AA Biloxi after the deal).
Buchter and Alexander could have been moved, too.
Probably the worst misfires of Moore’s career, other than the Kennedy contract. And obviously we’re at the time of the deals, too.
The salary dumping deals really illustrated how expensive the "all-in" pushes in 2016 and 2017 were for the Royals.
Steamer proj just released. Says we are the identical team as last year: 12 wins for position players, 5 for pitchers (0 coming from the pen), and 65.7 wins. (You cannot simply add war to get win totals, but this is close) [Reply]