Offseason Dates To Remember

Finally, the 2014 season is over. The Giants are champions again. The cold, dark, nothingness of the winter looms. You’re older than you’ve ever been, and now you’re getting older. And now you’re older still. As soon as you’re born you start dying, right?

…okay, that got dark, I guess, but also I’m not exactly sure how we’re supposed to feel after watching the Giants win for the third time in five years. Respect, certainly, is part of that, especially for Madison Bumgarner, but definitely depression. The Dodgers have won as many titles since 1965 as the Giants have since 2010. I suppose there’s a lot of teams who can say something similar — the Mets & Phillies have won just twice ever, and don’t get me started on the Cubs — but man, it just doesn’t feel like it should have worked out that way.

Anyway! 2014 is done, and while we’ll still continue with player reviews (sweet, delicious content through the dark months) it’s time to start looking forward to 2015. We already know that the front office is going to be considerably different, with Andrew Friedman in, De Jon Watson & Logan White out, and Ned Colletti pushed aside. At some point soon, we’ll know who is replacing the last three of those names, with it sounding all but certain that Josh Byrnes will be coming aboard in some capacity. With that in mind, here are some of the winter’s important dates to keep in mind:

November

• Right now! — free agents are now free and off the 40-man, including Hanley Ramirez and six other Dodgers
• Nov. 3 — qualifying offers due by 5 pm ET Monday. I start a new job Monday! Yay! I can’t write from there! Boo! So let’s just auto-schedule a “Dodgers extend Ramirez an offer” post now and pray that it actually works out that way.
• Nov. 4 — free agents may sign with new teams. This is at midnight ET, so technically it’s the last few hours of 11/3 in the west.
• Nov. 10 — qualifying offer decision deadline, 5pm ET.
• Nov. 10 — Rookie of the Year awards announced
• Nov. 11 — Manager of the Year awards announced
• Nov. 12 — Cy Young awards announced (Kershaw!)
• Nov. 13 — MVP awards announced (also Kershaw!)
• Nov. 10-18 — Japan Series (Puig!)
• Nov. 20 — 40-man rosters set for Rule 5 draft. Scott Schebler will be added, at the very least.

December

• Dec. 2 — non-tender deadline, that is, “will A.J. Ellis get an offer of arbitration?”
• Dec. 8-11 — Winter Meetings, San Diego. This is where the main free agent fun is.
• Dec. 11 — Rule 5 draft

January

• Jan. 13 — deadline to exchange arbitration figures
• All of January — so much nothingness

February

• Feb. 1 — arbitration hearings begin
• Feb. TBD — pitchers and catchers report