The Thanksgiving holiday produced little in the way of new information as baseball executives and players apparently joined the rest of us in taking a four day vacation.

Outside of some bogus Erik Bedard signing news (a reported one year-$3 million deal has yet to actually come to fruition) all was quiet on the Royals' front over the past week.   Given the lack of new information and a personal dearth of post-holiday motivation, here are a few key dates that will likely generate some, if not a lot, of news in the coming weeks:

• December 1st - last day for clubs to offer arbitration to its free agents.
• December 7th - last day for free agents offered arbitration to accept said arbitration

 The only Royals who really would be of interest here is/was Miguel Olivo, whom the Royals have already declined their side of the mutual option.   This is really all about draft pick compensation as very few free agents offered arbitration will actually accept.

• December 7th - Winter Meetings begin...in Indianapolis (further proof that Bud Selig is no fun - 'winter meetings' should mean Hawaii, Scottsdale or Palm Beach, not Indianapolis)

The Winter Meetings used to be THE time for big trades to happen, but it is not the mecca of activity it once was.  However, there is no better time for the spawning of rumors than this week.   Somewhere in this timeframe, every baseball site will get at least comment along the lines of 'why do you even talk about these rumors, they are almost all bogus and a waste of time'.   For the record, I love rumors so stop being so uptight.

• December 10th - Rule 5 Draft and the last day of the Winter Meetings

Watch the roster activity leading up to this day as the Royals will have to drop a player from their 40 man roster to be an active participant in the Rule 5 Draft.   I'm hoping to get a decent list of eligible players to review either this week or next to see if there is anyone worth taking a shot with this year.   By the way, anyone else bugged by the fact that every national mention of the Rule 5 almost never lists Joakim Soria as one of the 'great Rule 5 picks'?

• December 12th - Last day to non-tender contracts to players

Now, here will be real telling time as to what the Royals will look like in 2010.    Mike Jacobs and John Buck are among the players who might well find themselves free agents come December 13th.

• January 5th through 15th - Arbitration filing period

I'm hoping this is not a very interesting period of time for the Royals as the players who might cost the Royals a decent sum of money in arbitration will hopefully be free agents instead (see the December 12th deadline above).

Like I said, not much going on this Monday morning, but as you can see from the above timeline, there will be plenty of activity in coming weeks.

Comments

ecpglp

0

 

 

Clark, you and I must read in different places, because almost every mention of recent great rule 5 picks I see mentions Soria high up there with Johan Santana.

Monday 30 November 2009, 19:24

Post Reply

B

i

u

Quote

Code

List

List item

URL

Name *
Code   

Submit Comment

Cancel

rfdad

0

 

 

Don't forget there is a AAA rule 5 draft in which the player does not have to be on the major league roster.

Tuesday 01 December 2009, 10:08

Post Reply

B

i

u

Quote

Code

List

List item

URL

Name *
Code   

Submit Comment

Cancel

B

i

u

Quote

Code

List

List item

URL

Name *
Code   

Submit Comment