Every key date for the 2024-25 Marlins offseason

Now that the deplorable 2024 Miami Marlins season is over, our full attention shifts to how the franchise will go about improving. Some seeds were planted during the course of the summer via front office personnel changes and trades that bolstered Miami's farm system, but there's a lot of heavy lifting still ahead to even sniff Peter Bendix's stated goal of "long-term sustainable success."

Needless to say, the 2025 Marlins roster will look different than the 2024 one did. I curated these key offseason dates to help fans understand the timing and rationale of certain transactions that you'll see in the coming months.

I leaned heavily on the Cot's Baseball Contracts transaction calendar when formulating this article. Awesome resource!

October 1: Peter Bendix's end-of-season press conference

The Marlins are scheduled to hold a media availability with their president of baseball operations at loanDepot park to discuss the club's 2024 season, the decision to "mutually part ways" with manager Skip Schumaker and next steps.

October 8: Peoria Javelinas Arizona Fall League season opener

The following Marlins prospects are participating in the AFL this year: OF Kemp Alderman, INF Jay Beshears, LHP Justin King, LHP Patrick Monteverde, OF Andrew Pintar, RHP Jun-Seok Shim, LHP Justin Storm and RHP Brandon White.

The AFL regular season runs through November 14 with the championship game scheduled for November 16.

Five days after the World Series: MLB free agents eligible to sign with new teams

The Marlins don't have any pending MLB free agents of their own.

Last offseason, they barely participated in free agency, signing only one player (Tim Anderson) to a guaranteed deal. However, now that Bendix has had a full year to get acclimated to his position and lighten the team's future payroll commitments via trade, there is the flexibility for the Fish to be more active this time around.

This also serves as the deadline to reinstate all players from the 60-day injured list and make corresponding 40-man roster moves if necessary. Miami finished the regular season with six guys on the 60-day IL: Sandy Alcantara, Braxton Garrett, Jesús Luzardo, Andrew Nardi, Eury Pérez and Sixto Sánchez.

Early November: GM Meetings

Lead baseball executives from the 30 MLB teams convene. Bendix will presumably be accompanied by at least one of his assistant general managers (Gabe Kapler and Brian Chattin).

Mid-November: Deadline to protect Rule 5 Draft-eligible players

To protect key prospects from potentially getting picked in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, the Marlins will have to select them to their 40-man roster. Recently acquired infielders Deyvison De Los Santos and Jared Serna are the most notable Rule 5-eligible Marlins.

This deadline typically spurs trade activity around the league, either involving Rule 5-eligible prospects or the players being displaced from a team's 40-man to make room for those prospects.

November 22: MLB non-tender deadline

This is when teams have to ask themselves whether they value their players as much as the arbitration process does. It's their last opportunity to release them with no strings attached, like the Marlins did last year with Jacob Stallings and Garrett Hampson.

The following unsigned players on the Marlins roster will be eligible for raises if retained for the 2025 season: Jesús Luzardo (third year of arbitration eligibility aka Arb 3), Jesús Sánchez (Arb 2), Anthony Bender (Arb 2), Braxton Garrett (Arb 1), Edward Cabrera (Arb 1) and Nick Fortes (Arb 1).

December 8-11: Winter Meetings

Dallas, Texas, will be hosting the league's annual Winter Meetings. This is where the 2024 Rule 5 Draft and 2025 MLB Draft lottery are being held. By virtue of finishing with a bottom-two record among lottery-eligible teams, the Marlins have 22.45% odds of winning the No. 1 overall draft pick.

There is no specific deadline for when the Marlins must announce Skip Schumaker's successor, but every MLB manager traditionally attends the Winter Meetings, so expect it to happen sometime before then.

December 15: End of 2024 international free agent signing period

So far, Miami's international class consists of 32 players, headlined by Cuban INF Luis Manuel León—whose signing has not yet been announced by the team as of this writing—and Venezuelan OF Luis Cova.

Beisbol FR's Francys Romero reports that the Marlins have $167,500 left in their bonus pool. Bonus pool space does not roll over to the next signing period (use it or lose it).

January 15: Start of 2025 international free agent signing period

The Marlins have a $7,555,500 bonus pool for the 2025 signing period, tied for the largest among all MLB teams. They already have deals in place to allocate most of that money. Those players can begin putting pen to paper on Jan. 15.

Mid-February: Players report to spring training

As has been the case for two-plus decades, Marlins spring training will be based at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex in Jupiter. Pitchers and catchers will report during the week of February 10 (exact date TBD). The Marlins face the St. Louis Cardinals in their Grapefruit League opener on Feb. 22.