There'll Be *Some* Action This Week

Some events on the calendar guarantee we'll get some moves from all teams, including the Royals.

One of the things that makes the Major League Baseball offseason different from that of other sports and leagues is that it lacks structure. Yes, players become free agents at a certain time a certain number of days after the season ends. There are qualifying offers and deadlines to accept or decline. But any free agent can sign on day one or even into the season, as we’ve seen a bit in some recent years. That means that there will be days, even weeks, without a single important move being made during the cold winter months. One free agent, as of this writing, has changed teams and signed for more than $2.8 million and that’s Travis d’Arnuad. It’s been almost three weeks since the end of the World Series.

But the calendar does guarantee one week of moves, and this is that week. There’s some danger in writing about potential moves on a day where the moves can come at any time and you could be reading this at any time, but I like to live dangerously. The two big deadline this week that drive some movement are the deadline today to protect prospects from being available in next month’s Rule 5 draft and then the non-tender deadline, which comes on Friday. These deadlines work together a bit to be a catalyst for some moves because some teams need to clear 40-man roster spots in order to even have space to add their prospects. And then some teams like to move players they’re planning to non-tender.