Important Dates In MLB Calendar w/o Spring Training

Last edited by on Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:32 pm; edited 6 times in total

Nov. 5-8, 2007
General Managers Meetings, Orlando, Fla.

Nov. 14-15, 2007
Owners Meetings, Naples, Fla.

Nov. 20, 2007
Day to file reserve lists for all Minor League levels and Major Leagues

Dec. 1, 2007
Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to ranked free agents in order to be eligible for compensation

Dec. 3-6, 2007
Winter Meetings, Nashville, Tenn.

Dec. 6, 2007
Major League Rule 5 Draft

Dec. 7, 2007
Player deadline to accept salary arbitration

The team must offer salary arbitration to the player by December 7 or will not be allowed to negotiate with or sign the player until the following May 1.

Dec. 12, 2007
Last date to tender contracts for players under team control (less than six years of service time) who do not have contracts for the 2008 season.

Even if a player is not offered arbitration he is still free to sign with his old team, and can play at the beginning of the year.

December 19
After arbitration is offered, the player has until December 19 to either accept or refuse salary arbitration.

January 7th
If salary arbitration is refused, the player can only negotiate with the club until January 7th, after which no more negotiation can take place until May 1.

Feb. 14, 2008?
Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training

Feb. 19, 2008?
Position players will report

Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in early
February and running until just before the season opening day,
traditionally the first week of April.

Feb. 26, 2008
First Spring Training Game vs Florida Southern in Lakeland.

March 29, 2008
Last Spring Training game vs Houston Astros in Houston.

March 31, 2008
Season Opener vs KC in Detroit

May 1, 2008
This date comes in to play in two cases. if a player is not offered arbitration then his old team cannot sign him again until may 1st. also if a player is offered arbitration (and rejects it in the given window, then he cannot sign with his old team until may 1st.

June 15
Major League free agents come with an automatic no-trade clause until after the next June 15.

July 15, 2008
All-Star Game in NY Yankee Stadium

Sept 28,2008
Last game of Regular Season vs Tampa Bay in Detroit

--------------------------------------------------------
Salaries and Arbitration

A player may not make less than the league minimum.

Players with one or two years of service time and players between two and three years of service time (except for the 17% with the most service time)
can have their contracts renewed automatically by the team if they cannot come to an agreement. When renewing a contract, a team cannot reduce a player's pay by more than 20% from the prior year or 30% from the year before that.

Players with 3, 4, or 5 years of service time and the top 17% of the 2 year players may opt for arbitration in order to come to a contract.

The club' proposal may not be less than 80% of the player's salary the previous year. The exception here is that if a player won an arbitration award the prior year that resulted in a 50% or greater salary increase, there is no maximum paycut allowed in the proposal.

Arguments that are not allowed in an arbitration hearing include the state of the team's finances, previous offers made during salary negotiations between the player and the team, any press comments or testimonials with the exception of media-supported awards like the MVP Award or salaries in other sports or occupations.

A player with a non-guaranteed contract or an arbitration award may be released up until the 15th day of spring training with 30 days' pay or from the 16th day of spring training until the opening of the season with 45 days' pay.

When a player is claimed on waivers, the new team takes on the contract.

When a player is released in the middle of a guaranteed contract, the new team only has to pay league minimum with the old team footing the rest of
the bill.

Free Agency and Compensation

A player that has accrued 6 complete years or more of service time at the end of a season and does not have a contract is eligible for filing for free agency, after which the player can sign with any team he wants.

To receive compensation for a player that signs with another team, the team must offer the player salary arbitration.

The team must offer salary arbitration to the player by December 7 or will not be allowed to negotiate with or sign the player until the following May 1. After arbitration is offered, the player has until December 19 to either accept or refuse salary arbitration. If it is refused, the player can only negotiate with the club until January 7th, after which no more negotiation can take place until May 1.

The compensation formula is based off a negotiated formula, heavy on triple crown stats, for the previous 2 seasons. Type A players are those that rank in the top 30% of his position. Type B players are those that rank below top
30% but still in the top 50%. Type C players are those that rank in the top 60% but not the top 50%.

A type players fetch the 1st-round draft pick of teams in the top half of W-L record or a 2nd-round draft pick of teams in the bottom half of W-L record and an additional pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. B types don't get the sandwich pick and C type players fetch a sandwich between the 2nd and 3rd rounds. The higher the player's ranking in the compensation formula, the higher priority the old team gets in acquiring draft picks.

Something that's never mentioned is that there are still limits to the type of free agents that teams may sign.

If there are 14 or less type A and B players available, no team may sign more than 1 type A or B player. If there are 15-38 available A and B players, no team may sign more than 2. From 39-62 this becomes 3. The club quota increases accordingly for higher totals of available free agents. There is no maximum allowed for type C free agents. Lastly, a team can sign up to as many type A and B free agents as they've lost, regardless of the above quota.

Major League free agents come with an automatic no-trade clause until after the next June 15.