MLB’s offseason is officially here

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The Indians are in mourning and the Cubs are getting ready for their parade, but the rest of the baseball world is already in the MLB offseason. One hundred thirty-nine players elected free agency on Thursday, and can start to sign anywhere they would like on Monday. We also already saw a trade with a player you’ve heard of before, as Cameron Maybin was dealt from the Tigers to the Angels so Los Angeles (of Anahaim) could assume his $9 million option for 2017. Next up we’ll get qualifying offers, rejection of most or all of those qualifying offers, and then the offseason will really get moving as we’ll know just who is still available to sign.

We know Clay Buchholz won’t be around to boost a very limited pitching market, as the Red Sox decided a $13.5 million option for one year of depth you know beats what might be out there for them instead. We know the Mets will extend Neil Walker a qualifying offer, which stands at $17.2 million this offseason. Otherwise, it’s too early to know much of anything else, other than that Yoenis Cespedes has until Saturday to opt-out of his deal and become a free agent — and since we already know the Mets are going to wait and see what his market looks like late in the offseason should he still be around, rather than attempt to convince him to stick around in the present, we also know he’s going to opt out.

It’s been a real quiet last month for the teams who were out of the postseason, but that’s going to change in a hurry. There might not be much pitching to choose from — Andrew Cashner and Jeremy Hellickson are going to make much more money than you are comfortable with them making — but there should be plenty of trade activity to make up for it. Plus, there’s no shortage of bats available to sign: there will be Cespedes, but Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Carlos Beltran, Josh Reddick, Mark Trumbo, Matt Holliday, Justin Turner, Neil Walker, and Mike Napoli are out there. That’s a lot of dingers and more, and there’s a good chance many of these dudes are going to change addresses in the next few months.