Welcome to the off-season. Here’s data pulled from my 2014-15 off-season calendar, available in spreadsheet form on the Links to the right-hand side of the blog.
I don’t know all the exact dates right now (some of the events slightly move from year to year), and I havn’t dug up the exact dates for the 2015 events yet, but these are good approximations. In the google doc, the approximated dates are color coded.
We’re into the very critical time period immediately following the end of the World Series, and we’re already seeing player decisions. Stay tuned!
| Date | Event |
| 9/28/2014 | Last day of regular season |
| 9/30/2014 | Beginning of 2014 Post season (NL WC game) |
| 9/30/2014 | End of Year BBWAA award ballots due (prior to beginning of post season) |
| 10/20/2014 | Sporting News Comeback Players of the Year AL and NL |
| 10/20/2014 | Sporting News Rookies of the Year AL and NL |
| 10/21/2014 | Sporting News Managers of the Year AL and NL |
| 10/22/2014 | Sporting News All Star Teams of the year |
| 10/23/2014 | Sporting News Player of the Year, MLB |
| 10/23/2014 | Gold Glove finalists announced |
| 10/24/2014 | Roberto Clemente Award given |
| 10/25/2014 | Hank Aaron Awards given |
| Oct 28th, 2014 | Fielding Bible Awards given |
| 10/30/14 | Hall of Fame “Veterans Committee” releases ballot. |
| 10/29/2014 | Last actual day of 2014 World Series; official end of 2014 season |
| 10/30/2014 (WS end + 1) | MLB Coaches contracts expire |
| 10/30/14 (WS end + 1) | MLB announces nominees for GIBBYs |
| 10/30/14 (WS end + 1) | Official start of FA period (8am CST the day after the last game of the WS) |
| 11/1/14 (WS end + 3) | Team and player options must be decided three days after the end of the World Series. |
| 11/3/2014 (WS end + 5) | Clubs have to re-set their 40-man rosters, moving all 60-day DL players back to active. |
| 11/3/2014 (WS end + 5) | 5pm: Deadline to make Qualifying offers for your own FAs (average of top 125 salaries or $15.3M for 2014). 5 days after end of WS |
| 11/3/2014 (WS end + 5) | End of “Quiet Period.” Teams have “exclusive” negotiating rights with their own free agents during this period. |
| 11/3/2014 (WS end + 5) | 5 days after WS ends: Free agent filing period and exclusive negotiating window ends at 12:01 a.m. ET. Free agents can sign with any team. |
| 11/3/2014 (WS end + 5) | Free Agency granted to all eligible Minor League free agents (5 days after the end of the WS). Eligibility done on service time; 6 years ML service for college draftees or 7 years ML service for HS draftees or free agents under the age of 18. |
| 11/4/2014 | Rawlings AL & NL Gold Glove Announcements |
| Nov 5th 2014 | MLB Comeback Players of the Year AL and NL |
| Nov 4th, 2014 | MLBPA announces “Players Choice” awards: Player of the year, Comeback Player of the year, etc |
| Nov 5th, 2014 | BBWAA Award Nominees announced on MLB networks |
| Nov 6th, 2014 | Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards |
| Nov 7th, 2014 | Wilson Defensive Player of the Year awards, given by MLB to best defensive player on each club. |
| 11/10/14 – 11/13/14 | GM Meetings, Phoenix, AZ for 2014 |
| 11/10/14 (WS end + 12) | 12 Days after WS ends: Players must accept or reject Qualifying Options |
| 11/12/14 – 11/18/14 | NPB Japan World Series |
| Nov 11th, 2014 | Sporting News Executive of the Year announced |
| 11/10/2014 | AL, NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards |
| 11/11/2014 | AL and NL Manager of the Year |
| 11/12/2014 | AL and NL Cy Young |
| Nov 13-14th, 2014 | Owner Meetings, ?? Location for 2014 |
| 11/13/2014 | AL and NL Most Valuable Player |
| 11/19/2014 | Day to file reserve lists for all Major and Minor League levels. In other words, Last day to add players to 40-man to protect them from the Rule5 Draft |
| Nov 26th, 2014 | Hall of Fame Ballot for 2014 class officially released |
| Nov ?, 2014 | Rolaids Relief Man Announced |
| 12/2/14 | Midnight: Deadline for teams to Tender contracts to arbitration eligible players and/or unsigned players. If not tendered, those players immediately become free agents. This is the non-tender deadline for arbitration eligible players |
| Dec 3rd, 2014 | Baseball America announces its Executive of the Year |
| Dec 5th, 2014 | Last date to request outright waivers to assign player prior to Rule 5 Draft |
| 12/8/14 – 12/11/14 | Winter Meetings, San Diego, CA |
| 12/8/14 | Hall of Fame “Golden Era” (1947-1972) vote announced, San diego |
| Dec 9th, 2014 | Last date to outright a player prior to Rule 5 Draft |
| Dec 9th, 2014 | Hall of Fame “Veterans Committee” officially announces the results of its voting |
| Dec 9th, 2014 | MLB announces winners of 21 “GIBBY” awards (greatness in Baseball yearly awards) |
| Dec 10th, 2014 | J.G. Taylor Spink Award voting results announced |
| 12/11/2014 | Rule 5 Draft. Occurs at Winter meetings |
| Dec 13th, 2014 | MLB Balloting results announced for Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting |
| Dec 31st, 2014 | Deadline for BBWAA ballots for Hall of Fame voting. |
| Jan 8th, 2015 | Hall of Fame BBWAA voting announced; the Hall of Fame class of 2015 |
| 1/13/2015 | Salary arbitration filing Date |
| 1/16/2015 | Salary arbitration figures exchanged (1pm) |
| 2/1/15 – 2/21/15 | Salary arbitration hearings (actual hearing date per player picked at random), Phoenix AZ |
| Feb 13th, 2015 | Nats Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for Pitchers, Catchers, Injured players |
| Feb 20th, 2015 | Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for position players |
| Feb 28th, 2015 | First Spring Training Game for the Nats |
| Mar 2-11th, 2015 | Contracts of unsigned players who are not yet eligible for Arbitration may be renewed |
| March 13th, 2015 | Last day to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days. |
| March 27th, 2015 | Deadline to request unconditional release waivers without having to pay the player’s full salary or $100k bonus for certain types of veterans |
| March 31st, 2015 | 2015 Season Opener; Opening Day 2015; active rosters must be reduced to 25 players and 40-man rosters must be established |
| 4/5/2015 | Opening Night 2015: Teams tbd |
| 4/6/2015 | Nats Opening Day 2015 |