Since Theo Epstein is promising quite an eventful offseason, I figured it would make a ton of sense to provide a calendar of events and how it corresponds with the Chicago Cubs.
First five days following the conclusion of the World Series
This is otherwise known as the quiet period. A time where the Cubs can talk to free agents. Of course, they cannot sign anyone yet, just talk.
Five days after the conclusion of the World Series
This period is to exercise any club options on player contracts or offer potential free agents a Qualifying Offer. The 2019 Qualifying Offer will be around $18.5 million and players will have 10 days to decide whether or not to accept the offer. Players that can receive a QO from the Cubs include:
- Cole Hamels
- Ben Zobrist
- Steve Cishek
- Pedro Strop
- Brandon Kintzler
- Xavier Cedeno
- Alex Wilson
The players that the Cubs have club options on, are:
- Anthony Rizzo – $14.5 million club option
- Brandon Morrow – $12 million club option
- Jose Quintana – $10.5 million club option
- David Phelps – $1 million club option
- Tony Barnette – $3 million club option
- Kendall Graveman – $3 million club option
November 11-14 GM Meetings in Scottsdale
While there isn’t a lot that ends up happening, as far as completed deals during these meetings, this is usually the first time GM’s get a chance to begin talking with others about trades. This is when a lot of interest is spiked, which carries over into the Winter Meetings in December.
November 19-21st Owners meetings
This doesn’t have any immediate impact on the Cubs or their roster, but if there are changes to the CBA, this is the meeting that would potentially decide that. (Relief pitching rules???)
November 20th – Submit 40-man rosters
This is an important date for those younger guys that could be selected through the Rule 5 Draft. Any player drafted out of college in 2016 or high school or international players drafted in 2015 that are 19 years old are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.
If there are players that the Cubs would like to retain that fall into that grouping, they will need to be added to the 40 man roster
We can expect these guys will fall off the 40-man; Cishek, Hamels, Derek Holland, Kintzler, Strop, Lucroy, Zobrist, Castellanos, Cedeno, Morrow, and Barnette. Even if they work to re-sign some of them, they, at some point will likely fall off. That puts the team at around 33 roster spots (four are on the 60-day IL). The Cubs will likely protect prospects Colin Rae, Miguel Amaya, and Dakota Mekkes from Rule 5.
The roster will now be at 36, with four spots remaining. This will walk into the next phase of the offseason calendar, potentially non-tendering, trading, and free-agent signings.
December 2nd – Tender contracts to arb-eligible players
Here is where the Cubs will have some big decisions. Do they tender Russell a contract? What about Duane Underwood Jr.? He is out of options, and so is Danny Hultzen. What about Allen Webster?
Possibly non-tenders could be all the above besides Underwood?
Often times, the team will attempt to talk extensions before this deadline and this year that could put names on or off potential trade talk lists for the Winter Meetings.
December 9-12, the Winter Meetings, San Diego, Ca.
This is where the offseason magic happens, or well, where it used to happen. This is typically when teams pull of trades, gain a ton of steam on bigger deals that will work out in the coming weeks, and when big-time agents sell their big-time clients to teams. Historically, the meetings see the biggest action of the offseason. However, in the past two seasons, this has not been exactly true.
December 12th – Rule 5 Draft
The Cubs will draft 16th in the draft, and they have chosen some nice players in the past. Perhaps the most notable recently was Hector Rondon.
Some of the best players to be selected in the Rule 5 were, Roberto Clemente, Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, Josh Hamilton and Joakim Soria.
January 10th, 2020 Teams and Arb-Eligible players to exchange numbers
Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Willson Contreras, and Albert Almora are arbitration-eligible as long as the Cubs tendered them on December 2nd.
The team will submit their one-year offer to the player, and the player will submit their one-year offer to the club.
January 21st, 2020 – Hall of Fame voting results
The results for the upcoming class will be announced. The Cubs have Sammy Sosa, Alfonso Soriano, and Kyle Farnsworth on the ballot. None of them will receive enough votes to gain enshrinement.
February 1st – 20th, Arbitration hearings
When the team and player’s submitted salaries are off, and no resolution is made, the two sides will go to the salary arbitration court. Here, an arbiter will hear the case as to why a team has devalued a player and the player’s reasoning for why they overvalued themselves.
A lot of times, the period between the submitted salaries and when a hearing is scheduled, the two sides will work out a deal.
When they go to a hearing, it is never a good thing. Teams will spell out all the player’s weaknesses in an effort to keep the salary number low. A famous arbitration story of recent. The Boston Red Sox and Mookie Betts went to arbitration. When the Red Sox stated their case, they showed the court that Betts didn’t merit the increase he was looking for because he wasn’t producing like Kris Bryant, a player that was worth that investment.
Mid-February, Pitchers and Catchers report
And then the baseball cycle begins, anew.
