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.
Originally Posted by tk13:
I'm curious to see how Hosmer and Machado get along. Not a real great history there. Hos was close to Ventura and took his number in SD and we all remember what happened between Ace and Machado. I can't imagine either guy has a high opinion of each other.
I was about to say, a move like this were made with zero regard for the locker room - which was already an issue with Hos and Myers against their manager last year. Hosmer also went from being "the guy" to second fiddle (in both status and production). It'll be interesting to see how Hos responds to that.
Billy Beane liked to pretend locker room issues didn't matter for the first decade or so that he was with the A's - but now it's among his top priorities and for a reason. You can have all the talent in the world, but as the Nats showed us, it doesn't matter if the locker room hates each other. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tk13:
I'm curious to see how Hosmer and Machado get along. Not a real great history there. Hos was close to Ventura and took his number in SD and we all remember what happened between Ace and Machado. I can't imagine either guy has a high opinion of each other.
Yeah...feels like a desperate move on the Padres part. They have plenty of talent coming up if they just be patient and let it materialize. I don't think they need Machado to push them over the top...and not sure he's the right player to bring everyone else up with him over the top. When has he ever done that? Dodgers were already heading to their title without him. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan:
Yeah...feels like a desperate move on the Padres part. They have plenty of talent coming up if they just be patient and let it materialize. I don't think they need Machado to push them over the top...and not sure he's the right player to bring everyone else up with him over the top. When has he ever done that? Dodgers were already heading to their title without him.
You mean NL title right? Nobody was beating Boston. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dallaschiefsfan:
Yeah...feels like a desperate move on the Padres part. They have plenty of talent coming up if they just be patient and let it materialize. I don't think they need Machado to push them over the top...and not sure he's the right player to bring everyone else up with him over the top. When has he ever done that? Dodgers were already heading to their title without him.
The Dodgers were drastically better with him than without him. Believe I saw a .040 jump in win percentage once he was acquired.
He’s a good sign for the Padres in that he is young and fits their contention window. They don’t have a true slugger in their minor league system, and Machado gives them that. That’s huge.
They’ll also have some established hitters at the MLB level as their young guys come up, which will relieve pressure and expectations quite a bit. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
The Dodgers were drastically better with him than without him. Believe I saw a .040 jump in win percentage once he was acquired.
He’s a good sign for the Padres in that he is young and fits their contention window. They don’t have a true slugger in their minor league system, and Machado gives them that. That’s huge.
They’ll also have some established hitters at the MLB level as their young guys come up, which will relieve pressure and expectations quite a bit.
That might be true, but color me skeptical on the long-term affects of Machado on a team that young. Clubhouse culture is not everything...but it's something. I don't follow the Orioles closely, but he always struck me as me-first player. I guess we'll see. And I'm not really crying about this signing anyway...means the White Sox have one less bat. [Reply]
I really think they are going to hate the last 4 years of that contract. Or they are really hoping that the NL has a rule change and starts using the DH. [Reply]
I just have a feeling the Padres will be regretting what they did in free agency this year and last year pretty quick. Maybe as quick as this year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
I just have a feeling the Padres will be regretting what they did in free agency this year and last year pretty quick. Maybe as quick as this year.
How do you think they feel about the Hosmer deal? :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
The Dodgers were drastically better with him than without him. Believe I saw a .040 jump in win percentage once he was acquired.
He’s a good sign for the Padres in that he is young and fits their contention window. They don’t have a true slugger in their minor league system, and Machado gives them that. That’s huge.
They’ll also have some established hitters at the MLB level as their young guys come up, which will relieve pressure and expectations quite a bit.
He'll generate WARs, but unless the Padres improve soon, the revenue value of those WARs isn't very high. Who cares if you win 74 games or 79 games? [Reply]
Originally Posted by FringeNC:
He'll generate WARs, but unless the Padres improve soon, the revenue value of those WARs isn't very high. Who cares if you win 74 games or 79 games?
Their improvement is imminent. Their wave of young talent rivals what KC had coming in 2011, and they have far more present talent on the team than the 2010 Royals.
Padres will be playoff contenders in 2020. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Their improvement is imminent. Their wave of young talent rivals what KC had coming in 2011, and they have far more present talent on the team than the 2010 Royals.
The Padres are a few pitchers away from a World Series win. If the club house isn’t a complete dumpster fire, they should be one of the top 5 favorites to win it all next year. [Reply]
