Texas Rangers: Important Offseason Dates to remember
The offseason is officially here and between now and spring training in February these are the important dates that fans will need to remember.
The Texas Rangers are World Series champions. Everytime I type that or say that it puts a smile on my face. Texas winning the World Series does bring about the start of the offseason. Major League Baseball has several checkpoints during the winter that are important to fans to remember. These dates will help explain why certain moves are made at specific times. It is a guide to help fans get through these long winter months without baseball and be able to remain tuned into what is going on in baseball.
A fan’s guide to the MLB offseason
November 6th- Free agency officially starts
Starting on Monday morning free agents can officially start negotiating contracts with any team in baseball. The five-day quiet period officially ends and contracts can start to be negotiated and agreed upon. This week expect to hear news about players signing for 2024 and beyond.
November 6th- Qualifying Offers/ Option Decisions
Any player that has an option on their contract for 2024 whether it be a mutual, team, or player option must be decided by this date. Texas already did that by exercising Jose Leclerc’s option and Andrew Heaney decided to exercise his option for 2024. There are no other options for the team.
Qualifying offer deadline is also on November 6th at 4pm. The QO for this season will be $20.325 million. The only player Texas might consider the QO on is Mitch Garver, but I think there would be fear that he would accept since that is much more than he is likely to receive on the free agent market. I don’t expect Texas to use the QO unlike last year when Martin Perez was offered the QO and accepted.
November 7th-9th GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona
Less than a week after winning the franchise’s first World Series in Phoenix, Arizona Chris Young will head back to Arizona for the GM Meetings. He will be there in Scottsdale and will be meeting with his fellow general managers and lay groundwork for potential future trades and develop a roadmap for how the rest of the offseason will unfold for the Texas Rangers. Last year at the GM meetings he worked out a trade with Atlanta to send Kolby Allard to the Braves in exchange for Jake Odorizzi. It would not be shocking if something got done over these three days.
November 14th- Deadline for players to make a decision on the Qualifying Offer
This will be a nothing day for the Texas Rangers as it is expected that they will not extend any players the QO for the 2024 season.
November 14th- Rule 5 Draft Deadline
Texas will make moves around this deadline. They will have to add players to the 40-man roster that they do not want exposed to the Rule 5 draft at the Winter Meetings. These are minor league players that have been in the organization either three years if they are from college or four years if they were drafted out of high school or signed at that age or younger. Currently Texas has 34 players on the 40-man roster. I would expect maybe a move or two to get that number lower because they want to also have space for any free agents or trades that they make this offseason.
Prospect Times has the list of players that are Rule 5 eligible for the first time here at this link. I believe Texas will look to add five players to the 40-man roster: Dane Acker, Jose Corniell, Justin Foscue, Marc Church, and Antoine Kelly. Lot of pitching. Foscue was Texas’ 2020 first round pick and is knocking on the door of making his debut after spending much of 2023 at Round Rock. Acker spent most of 2023 at Frisco and will likely move up to Round Rock at the start of the 2024 season and be an option to make spot starts next season. Corniell after a slow start was one of the Rangers’ success stories in 2023 and pitched very well for Hickory and will likely start 2024 in Frisco. Marc Church hit a wall at Round Rock, but still has lots of potential and would likely be drafted if he was not protected. Finally, Antoine Kelly will be added. It was a surprise when he was not added to the 40-man and active roster in September. He became a hard-throwing left-handed reliever. He pitched much better this season and earned a late-season promotion to Round Rock. He will certainly be a bullpen option for Texas as soon as Opening Day or early in the season.
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