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KANSAS CITY -- Hot Stove season, anyone?

The World Series is over. That means baseball¡¯s offseason has officially begun, and teams can start roster constructing for the season ahead. The Royals will be looking to upgrade a few elements of their offense -- leadoff hitter, middle-of-the-order bat and perhaps a few bench pieces -- along with pitching depth.

On Thursday, eight Royals became free agents. We¡¯re now in a five-day ¡°quiet period¡± in which free agents may negotiate only with the team they just played for, but the trade freeze has lifted.

Here¡¯s the info you need to get ready for it all:

What are the key dates?
Monday: The deadline for teams and players to make decisions on contract options, the deadline for clubs to reinstate all players on the 60-day injured list and the deadline for clubs to tender qualifying offers (4 p.m. CT). The ¡°quiet period¡± ends at 4 p.m. CT, when Major League free agents are free to sign with any club, and Minor League players become free agents.

Nov. 4-7: GM Meetings in San Antonio, Texas.

Nov. 11: BBWAA Award finalists announced (5 p.m. CT on MLB Network).

Nov. 12: Silver Slugger Award winners announced (5 p.m. CT on MLB Network).

Nov. 14: All-MLB Awards announced.

Nov. 18-21: BBWAA Award winners announced (one each day beginning at 5 p.m. CT on MLB Network).

Nov. 19: The deadline for players to accept a qualifying offer is 3 p.m. CT. Also the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is 5 p.m. CT.

Nov. 22: By 7 p.m. CT, teams must formally tender contracts to unsigned players for the following season, including their arbitration-eligible players. If a player is non-tendered, he becomes a free agent.

Dec. 9-11: Winter Meetings in Dallas, including the MLB Draft Lottery on Dec. 10 and the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 11.

Dec. 15: End of the 2024 international signing period.

Jan. 10, 2025: Eligible players and their teams exchange arbitration figures.

Jan. 15, 2025: Start of the new international signing period.

Feb. 12, 2025: Royals pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.

Which Royals are free agents? Which players have contract options? Will anybody receive a qualifying offer?
The Royals have seven players who are now free agents:

• LHP Will Smith
• RHP Michael Lorenzen
• UTIL Garrett Hampson
• INF Paul DeJong
• OF Tommy Pham
• OF Robbie Grossman
• 1B Yuli Gurriel

Additionally, these players have contract options:

• RHP Chris Stratton ($4.5 million player option)
• RHP Michael Wacha ($16 million player option)
• OF Hunter Renfroe ($7.5 million player option or $1 million buyout)
• INF/OF Adam Frazier ($8.5 million mutual option or $2.5 million buyout)

According to a source, Stratton and Renfroe picked up their options as expected, while the Royals declined Frazier¡¯s option, paying him the buyout and making him a free agent. Wacha has enjoyed Kansas City, but a strong season likely means the righty will decline the option and retest the market. The Royals have expressed their desire to bring Wacha back and have been working on ways to do that. There¡¯s been internal discussion about offering him the $21 million qualifying offer, knowing that if he rejects the offer and signs elsewhere, the Royals would get an extra Draft pick.

Who needs to be reinstated to the 40-man roster?
The Royals outrighted one of their players on the 60-day IL, lefty reliever Josh Taylor, and he elected free agency after throwing just 17 2/3 innings for the Royals between 2023 and ¡®24. That leaves just one player who needs to come off the 60-day IL:

• RHP Kyle Wright (shoulder surgery last offseason)

Who is arbitration-eligible?
The Royals have eight players who are arb-eligible this year, according to team officials. Lefties Daniel Lynch IV and Sam Long have appeared on some projection lists, but haven¡¯t been deemed arbitration-eligible yet due to their service time.

The projection numbers in parentheses come from Cot¡¯s Contracts:

• Wright, A2 ($1.8 million)
• RHP Brady Singer, A3 ($8.25 million)
• LHP Kris Bubic, A3 ($2.925 million)
• RHP Hunter Harvey, A3 ($2.75 million)
• OF MJ Melendez, A1 ($2.1 million)
• OF Kyle Isbel, A1 ($2 million)
• RHP John Schreiber, A2 ($2 million)
• RHP Carlos Hern¨¢ndez, A2 ($1.1 million)

Are there any non-tender candidates?
Taylor was going to be non-tendered, but he didn¡¯t last on the roster long enough. Hern¨¢ndez could be in danger after an inconsistent year that began with a shoulder injury. But the Royals are going to rely on a lot of their arb-eligible players next year. They¡¯re also eager to see what a healthy Wright and healthy Harvey could bring to their pitching staff.

There are some pre-arb players the Royals could non-tender, including first baseman Nick Pratto and outfielders Drew Waters and Nelson Vel¨¢zquez.

Who needs to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft?
Every November, teams add players to their 40-man roster they don¡¯t want to expose to the Rule 5 Draft, when teams can pluck eligible Minor League players from other organizations and add them to the active roster. Players are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft after four seasons in the Minors if they signed at age 19 or later -- this year, that means college draftees from 2021 become eligible -- or after five seasons if they signed younger than age 19 (all signees from ¡®20 or before).

The no-brainer for the Royals is lefty Noah Cameron, their No. 12 prospect on MLB Pipeline. The St. Joseph, Mo., native was in Triple-A and knocking on the door of the Majors by the end of the year anyway.

This year, the Royals will have some more space on their roster rather than a crunch. Other names that will come up in the Rule 5 protection conversation include:

• RHP Chandler Champlain (No. 16 prospect)
• RHP Luinder Avila (No. 26)
• LHP Tyson Guerrero (No. 27)
• RHP Eric Cerantola (No. 29)
• OF/SS Tyler Tolbert
• OF John Rave