Big dates and offseason deadlines loom for the KC Royals

MLB convenes for Winter Meetings and the Rule 5 Draft in December

If you're looking for big deals, rampant speculation, breaking baseball news, and the hottest Hot Stove rumors, then baseball's annual Winter Meetings is the place to be. Scheduled for December 9-12 in Dallas, the game's annual offseason extravaganza should feature an abundance of major and minor league developments, including blockbuster trades and free agent signings.

The Rule 5 Draft typically takes place on the last day of the meetings. Certain Royals not included on the 40-man roster become eligible for the Draft after a specified number of seasons based on the player's age when initially signed. Once eligible, they can be drafted by any major league team having open space on its own 40-man.

But there's a huge catch to drafting another club's unprotected players — the drafting club must, with limited exceptions, keep a player on its active major league for the entire 2025 season or risk losing him to his original, or another, team.

Teams that pick a player in the Rule 5 Draft must also pay $100,000 to the team losing that player.

Arbitration deadlines hit after New Year's Day

The Royals have until almost mid-January to hammer out new contracts with their players eligible for salary arbitration. If any of those players haven't signed by then, they and the club must exchange salary proposals for arbitration purposes by January 10. They can continue to negotiate after that date, but any cases not closed with new deals must be submitted to arbitration panels for hearings, which should last from late January until sometime in February.

So, keeping an eye on how the Royals choose to deal with their 10 arbitration-eligible players will be interesting.

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