Five days after the end of the World Series (Nov 5-9): Deadline to make a qualifying offer (1 year/approx. $15.5-16M) to potential free agents. Of the four Sox players in this category (Albers, Beckham, Samardzija, Soto), Samardzija is the only one who could realistically receive such an offer and despite his awful year, the Sox are almost certain to make such an offer. This date is also the beginning of free agency.

 

Twelve days after the end of the World Series (Nov 12-16): Deadline for players who received qualifying offer to accept/reject qualifying offers. Last year, all players who received qualifying offers rejected them. In this case, the signing team loses their second round pick if they draft 1-10 or their first round pick if they draft 11-30. The losing team receives a compensatory pick in between Rounds 1-2. Since the Sox draft 10th, if Samardzija were to turn down a QO from the Sox and the Sox were to sign a player who turned down a QO from another team, the draft pick the Sox would gain would be at least 10 spots higher than the one they would lose.

 

November 20: Last day to add players to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. Any player who was 18 or under when signed must be protected within 5 years of signing and any player 19 or older when signed must be protected within 4 years of signing. Adding players to the 40-man roster protects them from the Rule 5 Draft but also means they start burning option years in 2016. A team also has to have enough 40-man roster spots available for the players they add (Sox currently have one open spot) and often must remove players from the roster to make room for the ones they want to add.[i don't follow the minors as closely as others, so if somebody wants to post a list of Sox players at risk to Rule 5 exposure, I'll add it in here.]

 

December 2: Last day to offer contracts to unsigned players on the 40-man roster. This is where the decision gets made on arbitration-eligible players. This is often a tough call because you have to decide whether or not to commit to certain players before you've been able to sign or trade for someone who might be an upgrade. This year Tyler Flowers and Nate Jones are the only abitration-eligible players. Jones will be kept for sure. Unless an upgrade can be secured before this date it's hard to see letting Flowers go, no matter how much we hate him.

According to Cots Contracts, we have 5 arb eligible guys - Jones, Flowers, Putnam, Avi and Jennings. Putnam, Avi and Jennings are all Arb 1. Garcia probably won't be non-tendered, and he's the only one that is on the edge.

Forgot about super 2 status. Putnam and Avi qualify because of that. Also forgot about Jennings.

HuskerHickory mentions Beckham but I think Gordo signed a two year deal didn't he?

HuskerHickory mentions Beckham but I think Gordo signed a two year deal didn't he?

 

Dear god I hope not.

HuskerHickory mentions Beckham but I think Gordo signed a two year deal didn't he?

 

Nope. 1 year / $2M.