Free agency officially begins November 2 at 5 p.m. ET, but the current CBA expires at midnight on December 1, raising questions about whether a deal gets done before a work stoppage.
Baseball's offseason has officially begun, and for the second time in five years nobody is quite sure when spring, or the regular season, will actually arrive. The World Series is over, free agents filed Thursday morning, and teams now get a five-day window to negotiate with their own players before the open market starts.
Free agency opens league-wide on November 2 at 5 p.m. ET. The bigger issue hanging over all of it is the current CBA between MLB and the players' union, which expires at midnight on December 1. That deadline has teams and agents watching the calendar closely, since a lockout would freeze most of the usual offseason business.
Even with that cloud, expect plenty of activity in November, as some players and front offices may move with more urgency than usual to get deals finalized before the window closes. The free agent class includes plenty of notable names, with pitching depth highlighted by arms like Tarik Skubal among the best available.
One team sitting unusually quiet is the Mets, who had zero free agents of their own this offseason after trading or losing every pending free agent during the year. What happens with the CBA talks over the next month will shape how the rest of the winter unfolds.