SAN FRANCISCO — Less than 24 hours after the World Series ended, the Giants’ 40-man roster already looks significantly different.
Nine members of the 2021 club became free agents Wednesday, including many of the Giants’ top contributors such as Brandon Belt, Kevin Gausman and Anthony DeSclafani.
With several key dates to keep track of this offseason and many important decisions looming for the Giants’ front office, here’s what Major League Baseball’s offseason calendar looks like right now.
November 3: Aside from Belt, Gausman and DeSclafani, six other Giants players were among the 160 major leaguers who hit free agency on Wednesday. The others are trade deadline acquisition Kris Bryant, starters Alex Wood and Scott Kazmir, infielder Donovan Solano and relievers Tony Watson and Tyler Chatwood.
Players who became free agents Wednesday cannot sign with new teams until Nov. 7 as there is a five-day exclusive negotiating window with their old teams.
November 7: One of the most important dates of the offseason, Nov. 7 is the deadline for teams to extend one-year, $18.4 million qualifying offers to players. Expect Belt to be given a qualifying offer from the Giants unless the two sides work out a multi-year extension in the coming days. DeSclafani is also a candidate to receive a qualifying offer.
Sunday is also the deadline for the Giants to exercise or decline club options on Buster Posey, Johnny Cueto, José Álvarez and Wilmer Flores. Posey, Álvarez and Flores are all likely to have their options picked up by the Giants whereas the club is expected to pay a $5 million buyout to Cueto, which will make him a free agent.
On Sunday evening, Gold Glove Award winners are announced. Shortstop Brandon Crawford is a finalist and could win the fourth National League Gold Glove of his career while Mike Yastrzemski is a finalist for the first time as a right fielder.
November 8: Finalists for MLB’s major awards are announced as MLB Network will reveal the three top vote-getters in each league for the MVP, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Awards.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler is the heavy favorite to win the NL Manager of the Year Award while it’s possible, albeit unlikely, that Crawford finds himself among the finalists for the NL MVP Award. The Giants are not expected to have a Cy Young or Rookie of the Year finalist, although starter Logan Webb has the talent and skill set to eventually challenge for a Cy Young Award.
November 9-11: Major League Baseball will hold its annual General Manager meetings in Carlsbad. Giants general manager Scott Harris is expected to attend, but these meetings rarely lead to any significant news.
November 11: The Silver Slugger Awards are announced at 3 p.m. PT on MLB Network. Despite setting a franchise record with 241 home runs this season, the Giants only have two finalists and only one front-runner. Crawford and Posey are finalists at shortstop and catcher respectively. It’s likely Posey will win the fifth Silver Slugger Award of his career.
November 15: The 2022 Hall of Fame ballot will be released on Nov. 15 and for the first time, Giants legend Tim Lincecum’s name is expected to appear on the ballot. Lincecum doesn’t have a realistic shot of being enshrined in Cooperstown, but it’s possible he’ll receive votes from more than 5% of the electorate, which would enable him to remain on the ballot in 2023, when Matt Cain should make an appearance.
The 2022 ballot also marks the last time Barry Bonds is eligible for enshrinement from BBWAA voters. While he’s not expected to meet the 75% threshold from voters, there are other paths to the Hall of Fame that Bonds could wind up taking in the future.
November 16: Manager of the Year awards are announced, so expect Kapler to take home a piece of hardware that Bruce Bochy surprisingly never won during his tenure in San Francisco.
November 17: This is the deadline for players who were given qualifying offers to accept or reject the offers. The Giants may have more clarity on Belt’s future by this date. If DeSclafani ends up receiving an offer, it seems likely the veteran right-hander would accept and return to the Giants for 2022.
November 18: MLB will announce the MVP Awards during a 3 p.m. PT special on MLB Network, so we’ll find out where Crawford ranked among MVP vote-getters and if Posey cracked the top 10. The guess here is that Crawford finishes fourth in the NL behind Juan Soto, Bryce Harper and Fernando Tatís Jr. while Posey ranks in the 11-13 range.
November 19: One of the most important dates of the winter for the Giants’ front office is Nov. 19, which is the deadline for the club to add Rule 5-eligible prospects to their 40-man roster. 2017 first-round draft choice Heliot Ramos is the only true lock to be added, but several other prospects such as pitcher Sean Hjelle and third baseman David Villar are strong candidates to be added to the roster which will prevent other clubs from selecting them in the Rule 5 draft Dec. 8.
December 1: Another critical date for offseason decisions is Dec. 1, which is the non-tender deadline. The Giants have a relatively large number of arbitration-eligible players including outfielders Alex Dickerson, Austin Slater and Darin Ruf.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has spoken at length about the desire to keep much of the roster intact, and decisions on whether to bring back players such as Curt Casali, Jarlín García and Dominic Leone must be made within the first month of the offseason.
December 1, 11:59 p.m. ET: This will be the most discussed moment of the offseason and will dominate the news cycle for the next month. At this time, the collective bargaining agreement between MLB’s owners and the Players Association is set to expire, which could lead to a lockout. MLB hasn’t had a work stoppage since 1994-1995, but that could change this winter.
December 6-8: The most newsworthy week of the offseason could be particularly interesting if an agreement on a new CBA hasn’t been reached, but for now, Winter Meetings are scheduled to take place in Orlando from Dec. 6-8. This is when representatives from all 30 teams gather at the same hotel and where important transactions often come together. In 2019, the Giants signed Gausman during the winter meetings and also announced the first eight members of Kapler’s new coaching staff.
December 8: The Rule 5 draft is set to take place on the final day of the Winter Meetings and while the Giants have viewed this as a low-risk, high-reward mechanism for acquiring talent, it hasn’t been particularly useful. The Giants’ 2020 Rule 5 draft choice, Dedniel Núñez, underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training.
January 14: This is the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit salary figures for the 2022 season, but it’s not a particularly notable deadline. Arbitration hearings take place the first two weeks of February, and that’s when salaries are set.
Mid-February: Assuming a new CBA is in place, Giants pitchers and catchers will report to Scottsdale for the start of spring training as they look to defend their 2021 NL West title.
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