Now that the 2015-16 offseason is upon us, here's a look at the important dates for the coming weeks and months. Make sure to bookmark this page for future reference.
 
November 2: Eligible players became free agents at 9 am ET Monday. The list of free agents is 139 names long.
 
November 4: Most option decisions due. (Some contracts specify different dates.) Among the most notable option decisions this year include Alex Gordon ($12.5 million player option), Jose Bautista ($14 million club option), R.A. Dickey ($12 million club option) and Clay Buchholz ($13 million club option).
 
November 6: Deadline for teams to make eligible players a qualifying offer. The qualifying offer is a one-year contract worth $15.8 million this offseason. Here's a primer.
 
November 7: End of the exclusive negotiating period. At 12:01 am ET this coming Saturday, free agents are free to sign with any team.
 
November 9-12: GM Meetings in Boca Raton, Florida. There are a few transactions during the GM Meetings, but mostly preliminary talks occur here.
 
November 10: Finalists for each of the major awards are announced. Also, Gold Glove winners will be announced. Here are the Gold Glove finalists.
 
November 13: Deadline for free agents to accept or reject the qualifying offer. No one has ever accepted the qualifying offer and I don't think that will change this year. Players who reject the qualifying offer will be tied to draft pick compensation in free agency.
 
November 16-19: Major awards announced. Rookies of the Year will be announced Monday, following by Managers of the Year Tuesday, Cy Youngs Wednesday and MVPs Thursday.
 
November 18-19: Owners' meetings in Dallas.
 
November 20: Deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters for the Rule 5 Draft.
 
December 2: Deadline for teams to tender a contract offer to their pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players. Those who do not receive a tender become free agents. A whole new batch of players will hit the open market this day.
 
December 7-10: Winter Meetings in Nashville. These are the craziest days of the offseason. Lots of trades and free agent signings go down this week.
 
December 10: Rule 5 Draft. As a reminder, players taken in the Rule 5 Draft must stick on their new team's active 25-man roster for the entire 2016 season, or they have to go through waivers and be offered back to their old team before going to the minors.
 
January 6: Hall of Fame voting results announced. Ken Griffey Jr. is the most notable first-timer joining the ballot this winter.
 
January 12: Deadline for eligible players to file for salary arbitration. A formality.
 
January 15: Deadline for teams and eligible players to file salary figures for arbitration.
 
February 1-21: Salary arbitration hearings. Most players will sign before going to a hearing. If they do go to a hearing, the three-person panel will hear each side's case and pick either the salary the team filed or the salary the player filed, nothing in between.
 
Mid-February: Spring training opens across Florida and Arizona.
 
April 4: Opening Day!

Prince Fielder has been named the 2015 Comeback Player of the Year in the American League.
 
Fielder appeared in just 42 games last season before requiring season-ending surgery on his neck. He returned this year to bat .305/.378/.463 with 23 home runs and 98 RBI in 158 games for the American League West champions. The 31-year-old is under contract with Texas through the 2020 campaign.

Matt Harvey was named the 2015 Comeback Player of the Year in the National League.
 
Harvey missed the entire 2014 season following Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. He hit some bumps in the road in 2015, and was the center of a very public and sometimes very nasty innings-limit controversy, but the 26-year-old right-hander registered a stellar 2.71 ERA in 29 regular-season starts and then pitched four times in the playoffs. Harvey should be among the top fantasy starters in 2016.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets checked in on the availability of Andrelton Simmons on Thursday morning and were told that it would take Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom.

Mariners acquired RHP Joaquin Benoit from the Padres for RHP Enyel De Los Santos and INF Nelson Ward.

Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Astros have expressed trade interest in Rays relievers Jake McGee and Brad Boxberger.

Catcher: Brian McCann, Yankees (sixthSilver Slugger)
First base: Miguel Cabrera, Tigers (sixth)
Second base: Altuve, Astros (second)
Third base: Donaldson, Blue Jays (first)
Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox (first)
Outfielders: Mike Trout, Angels (fourth); Nelson Cruz, Mariners (first); J.D. Martinez, Tigers (first)
Designated hitter: Kendrys Morales, Royals (first)

Catcher: Buster Posey, Giants (third)
First base: Goldschmidt, D-backs (second)
Second base: Dee Gordon, Marlins (first)
Third base: Arenado, Rockies (first)
Shortstop: Crawford, Giants (first)
Outfielders: Bryce Harper, Nationals (first); McCutchen, Pirates (fourth); Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies (second)
Pitcher: Madison Bumgarner, Giants (second)

Phillies acquired RHP Jeremy Hellickson from the Diamondbacks for RHP Sam McWilliams.
Hellickson will immediately jump near the top of a very young and inexperienced Phillies' rotation. While he has struggled the past few seasons, Hellickson owns a career 3.94 ERA and 1.27 WHIP across 786 innings.

Red Sox acquired RHP Craig Kimbrel from the Padres for OF Manuel Margot, INF Javier Guerra, INF Carlos Asuaje and LHP Logan Allen.
 
Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Logan Allen and Carlos Asuaje will head to the Padres in the deal. Margot is arguably the best of the bunch, a 20-year-old outfielder who was blocked by an extremely talented and crowded outfield in Boston. Margot was ranked as the #4 prospect in the Red Sox system, while Guerra (#6) and Allen (#13) also cracked the top 15.

Angels acquired SS Andrelton Simmons and C Jose Briceno from the Braves for SS Erick Aybar, LHP Sean Newcomb, RHP Chris Ellis and cash.
Simmons, recently crowned the best defensive player in the game, heads to an Angels team ready to make a run at a World Series in 2016. The 26-year-old shortstop is a two-time Gold Glove winner who could have easily won his third this past season. Simmons will make $6 million in 2016 and is signed to a team-friendly deal through 2020, part of the reason the Angels were willing to pay such a steep price.

Blue Jays re-signed RHP Marco Estrada to a two-year, $26 million contract.
Estrada could have gotten more for 2016 by accepting the club's $15.8 million qualifying offer, but he'll receive another guaranteed year instead. The right-hander pitched very well for Toronto this past season, posting a 3.13 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 131/55 K/BB ratio over the course of 181 innings.

"Every night before I pitch, I have to play Nintendo hockey. Every night before I pitch, I have to watch the movie 'For The Love Of The Game,' the Kevin Costner movie. I watch the same part every time but never the whole movie. I've never seen the whole movie, and I never will until I retire. People tell me how it ends, but I don't care. I won't watch it until I retire. But I have to watch it every night before I pitch. It's what helps get me ready to pitch."

Correa is the 1st shortstop to debut in an age-20 or younger season and crush at least 20 HRs.

Kris Bryant 23, is one of 15 players & only the 3rd third baseman since 1947 to hit 26+ home runs in a debut season.

Banister, whose previous role before his managerial debut in Texas was as bench coach with the Pirates, becomes the fifth to win Manager of the Year in his first season on the job.

Maddon, who won twice as skipper of the Rays, became the seventh manager to win the award three times and the sixth to win it in both leagues
 
Maddon is the fourth Cubs skipper to win the honor, following Lou Piniella (2008), Don Zimmer (1989) and Jim Frey (1984). Maddon won his AL awards in 2008 and '11 with the Rays.
 

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that David Ortiz will retire after the 2016 season.
 
Bob Nightengale of USA Today hears that an official announcement will come Wednesday. Ortiz, who turns 40 on Wednesday, recovered from a slow start this season to finish with a .273/.360/.553 batting line to go along with 37 home runs and 108 RBI. In September, he became the 27th player in MLB history to reach the 500 home run club. He has a good chance to climb into the top-20 on the all-time list if he has another strong season on the way out. It should be quite the farewell tour. Ortiz will make $16 million in 2016 and his contract includes an option for 2017, but apparently that won't be necessary

Dallas Keuchel was named the winner of the 2015 American League Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday.
 
Keuchel won the Cy Young on the strength of a stellar 2015 campaign that included a 2.47 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 213/49 K/BB ratio over 226 innings. He finished the year with a 20-8 record. The 27-year-old southpaw is the third Astro to win the award, joining Mike Scott (1986) and Roger Clemens (2004). David Price placed second for the pitching honor, while Sonny Gray rounded out the Top-3.

Jake Arrieta was named the winner of the 2015 National League Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday.
 
Arrieta won the award over Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who placed second and third, respectively. For his part, Arrieta was a terror down the stretch, pitching to a 0.75 ERA, 0.727 WHIP and 113/23 K/BB ratio in his last 15 regular season starts (107 1/3 innings). For the season as a whole, he finished 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 236/48 K/BB ratio across 229 innings. The 29-year-old right-hander is the fifth Cub to win the award, joining Ferguson Jenkins (1971), Bruce Sutter (1979), Rick Sutcliffe (1984) and Greg Maddux (1992).

Cubs join '83 White Sox as only teams to win Cy Young, ROY & Manager of the Year in same season

Harper rightfully took home his first MVP award after finally putting it all together in 2015, batting .330/.460/.649 with 42 home runs, 99 RBI and 118 runs scored. He garnered all 30 first-place votes, leaving fellow finalists Paul Goldschmidt and Joey Votto in his dust. Goldschmidt finished second and Votto third in the voting.

Primarily batting second in what was by far the most productive lineup in baseball, Donaldson led the majors with 122 runs scored and the AL with 123 RBIs and 352 total bases, and set career highs in hits (184), doubles (41), home runs (41), slugging percentage (.568), OPS (.939), OPS+ (155) and Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Replacement (8.8).

For the 2nd straight season, a league's MVP is younger than its ROY.

MLB could hold games in London as early as 2017, reports Ben Rumsby of the Telegraph.

Price’s $31M AAV might not be record for long. Greinke’s deal also could come soon. #Dodgers vs. #SFGiants, 5- or 6-year deal expected.

In the past 16 months Dave Dombrowski has:  
- Traded for David Price
- Traded away David Price
- Signed David Price

CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports that the Orioles have completed a trade to acquire Mark Trumbo from the Mariners in exchange for Steve Clevenger.
 
Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune is hearing that the O's will also get an additional player in the swap. Trumbo is due to make around $9 million in his final year of arbitration and is coming off a down season that saw him bat .262/.310/.449 with 22 home runs and 64 RBI. Still, it looks like a modest price to pay for a potential 30-homer bat. Trumbo can either play first base or serve as the designated hitter, so his acquisition doesn't necessarily rule out Baltimore re-signing Chris Davis.

It’s all true and it sounds great, but you can’t think it’s a good long-term based on recent sampling. I’ve already examined all free agent contracts over the previous five years that were worth $50 million or more, and studied the return on the 81 seasons for those players age 30 or older. I found that teams on average were paying $19.2 million a year for a 53% chance that a free agent in his 30s will be at least average. A veritable coin flip. Overall, the rate of productive players in their 30s in baseball is the worst in 40 years, and the worst in the history of free agency.
 
Pitchers, as velocity has crept up, are losing effectiveness sooner and sooner. Let’s give Price three good years in Boston: ages 30, 31 and 32. What will his age 33, 34, 35 and 36 seasons look like at $124 million?
 
Let’s look at last season, and every pitcher between ages 33 and 36. Now count all of those pitchers who threw 162 innings with an adjusted ERA better than 100. You can stop counting at just three: Mark Buehrle, Dan Haren and John Lackey.
 
Five years ago you would have found 10 such pitchers who aged well. Sixteen years ago, in a much tougher pitching environment (but with no drug testing), you would have found 16 of them.
 
Here’s another exercise to try. Rewind the clock to five years ago and find all the pitchers who threw at least 162 innings in their age 29 season, as Price did this year. You find seven of them. How did they hold up? None of them are close to anybody’s idea of an ace just five years later: Brett Myers, CC Sabathia, C.J.Wilson, Roberto Hernandez, Dan Haren, Joe Saunders and Joe Blanton.
 
The greatest pitchers of this generation fade quickly: Sabathia, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, Cliff Lee, etc. Over the past two seasons 44 names have filled Cy Young Award ballots, but only one was older than 32 (Lackey).