MLB offseason officially begins now

The World Series is now over and the Royals are your 2015 champions, but with the end of the baseball season comes the official start of the hot stove of baseball's offseason. Here's a quick overview of a busy week ahead.

First thing to come up is free agency, which becomes official at 6 a.m. PT on Monday. For the Dodgers, this means three players officially released into the wild — starting pitcher Brett Anderson, second baseman Howie Kendrick and shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

The first five days of free agency — until 8:59 p.m. PT on Friday — is considered a "quiet period," during which free agents cannot sign with a new team. Both sides can talk during this period, but no deals are allowed until after five days have passed. Players are allowed to re-sign with their old team at any time.

Options are the other key thing in the upcoming week. Usually the deadlines for this decisions are the fifth day after the World Series (Friday), but for the big kahuna, Zack Greinke, his decision is due by Wednesday. Greinke has three years and $71 million remaining on his contract but can opt out and become a free agent, which after his fantastic season is essentially a foregone conclusion.

The Dodgers hold club options for 2016 on starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo ($13 million, with a $4.5 million buyout), second baseman Chase Utley ($11 million, with a $2 million buyout) and relief pitcher Joel Peralta ($2.5 million, no buyout).

Left-handed relief pitcher J.P. Howell has a player option for 2016 worth $6.25 million.

Qualifying offers are due by Friday at 2 p.m. PT, a one-year $15.8 million offer for free agents that, should they decline and sign elsewhere, would net the Dodgers a draft pick in between the first and second rounds in 2016.

Greinke, Kendrick and Anderson are all strong candidates to receive qualifying offers. Players who receive a qualifying offer have until 2 p.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 13 to accept or decline the offer. To date, all 34 free agents to receive a qualifying offer have declined.

The Dodgers currently have 45 players on the 40-man roster, including five players on the 60-day disabled list. The DL ceases to exist this week, so the 40-man limit becomes a hard cap. Should all five Dodgers with options become free agents, coupled with the three other free agents, the club will have 37 players on the 40-man roster.