With the World Series now complete, MLB free agency season is here! Check out everything you need to know about Hot Stove season, including key dates around the qualifying offers, options and when teams can officially sign free agents.
What are the key dates for MLB Free Agency in 2025?
- Within five days of the World Series ending: Window for options to be exercised and also for clubs to make qualifying offers to players
- Thursday, November 6th at 5 p.m. ET: Free agency begins
- Mid-November: Deadline for players to accept or decline a qualifying offer
- Mid-January: Salary arbitration deadline
When does 2025 MLB Free Agency start?
MLB free agency begins the day after the conclusion of the World Series. However, players cannot sign with a new team until 5 p.m. ET five days after the end of the World Series – this year, it falls on Thursday, November 6th.
When can teams make trades?
Trades are not allowed from the MLB Trade Deadline until the end of the World Series. Trades can be made again the day after the World Series ends.
What types of options are available?
Options are extensions added to a player contract that can be exercised by a player or a club to stay with their current team. A “club option” means the team gets to make the call if they want to extend the player’s contract for the next season. A “player option” puts the power in the hands of the player. A less common “mutual option” would only be exercised if both team and player agree. Options must be exercised within five days of the end of the World Series.
What are qualifying offers?
A qualifying offer is a one-year contract offer that teams can use to extend their pending free agents, typically at a value determined by the average salary of the league’s top 125 players. This year’s amount is $22.025 million. The value was $21.05 million for the 2024-25 offseason. This year, offers must be made to eligible players within five days of the conclusion of the World Series, and players then have until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 18 to accept. Teams can extend this offer to players who are about to enter free agency only if they have spent the entire previous season with them and if the player has never received a qualifying offer before. The player then has a short window to accept or reject the offer. If accepted, they return to the club for a year. If not, they enter free agency and if signed, the original team will receive draft compensation.
What is salary arbitration?
Salary arbitration is a process used to resolve salary disputes between teams and players who are not yet eligible for free agency but have enough service time to negotiate higher pay. It occurs when a player and their team cannot agree on a salary for the upcoming season, and it is primarily used for players with between three and six years of Major League service time (with some exceptions for “Super Two” players who qualify at just over two years).
Here’s how it works:
Eligibility: Players with three to six years of MLB service time, or “Super Two” players
Negotiation: Teams and players try to negotiate a contract for the upcoming season. If they cannot agree by a mid-January deadline, the player and team exchange salary figures, indicating how much the player wants and how much the team is willing to pay.
Arbitration Hearing: If no settlement is reached, the case goes to a hearing, where an independent panel reviews the player’s past performance, their contributions to the team, and comparable player salaries. The player and team each present their case.
Decision: The arbitration panel decides on one of the two proposed salary figures (either the player’s or the team’s), with no middle ground. The ruling is binding, meaning the player will earn the chosen salary for the next season.
Who are the top free agents?
- Kyle Tucker
- Alex Bregman
- Dylan Cease
- Framber Valdez
- Cody Bellinger
- Kyle Schwarber
- Pete Alonso
- Bo Bichette
- Edwin Diaz
- Ranger Suarez
What is the posting system for Japanese players?
Players from Japan’s top league — Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) — who do not have the requisite nine years of professional experience to gain international free agency can request to be “posted” to MLB clubs.
Under posting rules, the “release fee” — an amount that an NPB club must receive in the event an agreement is reached between a posted player and a MLB club — depends on the guaranteed value of the MLB contract.
All 30 MLB clubs have 45 days to negotiate with a player after he is posted. If no agreement is reached in that timeframe, the player returns to his NPB club for the coming season. He cannot be posted again until the following offseason.
Any MLB club that was willing to meet the designated release fee could negotiate with the player for 30 days after the player was posted, but only the club with which the player signed had to pay that release fee.
The fee is 20 percent for guaranteed deals up to $25 million. For deals between $25–50 million, the fee is 20 percent of the first $25 million plus 17.5 percent of the total guaranteed value of that 20 percent for deals between $20–25 million. For deals over $50 million, the fee will be 20 percent of the first $25 million plus 17.5 percent of the next $25 million plus 15 percent of the total guaranteed value exceeding $50 million.
Example: If a posted player’s MLB contract is guaranteed value of $100 million, his Japanese team would receive roughly $16.9 million ($5 million for the first $25 million, $4.4 million for the second $25 million and $7.5 million for the final $50 million).
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