With Monday’s Qualifying Offer deadline now past, the 2014 off-season in now officially underway. In other words, the 2015 Hot Stove has been lit.

The Heat is On

Granted, there have already been a handful of transactions involving front office personnel, managers, coaches and minor league free agents, but the big name free agents had to wait for the post-World Series requirements set forth by the MLB and the MLB Players Association to be met which, as mentioned above, has now occurred.

Ironically, the Dodgers are among the teams with a relatively low number of free agents heading into this off-season with 10:

• Josh Beckett
• Roger Bernadina
• Chad Billingsley
• Kevin Correia
• Scott Elbert
• Roberto Hernandez
• Paul Maholm
• Chris Perez
• Hanley Ramirez
• Jamey Wright

As you can see, Hanley Ramirez and Roger Bernadina are the only non-pitchers on this list. Ramirez rejected the Dodgers $15.3 million qualifying offer on Monday and Bernadina was outrighted to the minors on October 14 but opted for free agency instead, as did oft-injured left-handed reliever Scott Elbert.

Josh Beckett officially announced his retirement on October 7 and the Dodgers declined to pick up Chad Billingsley’s hefty $14 million club option for 2015 and instead bought out his contract for $3 million, thus making the popular right-hander a free agent. It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that the Dodger could offer Billingsley a one-year / low-cost incentive-laden contract or even a minor league contract with an invitation to big league spring training camp to keep him in the organization. The 30-year-old Defiance, Ohio native is coming off two elbow surgeries which many teams may see as being too risky to sign him to a long-term free agent deal.

Although it is sad to see Josh Beckett retire from the game, it was great to see him add a no-hitter to his remarkable 14-year MLB career on May 25, 2014. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

The shortstop vacancy created by Ramirez’s departure creates a bit of a dilemma for Dodgers new President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and even newer Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi – a dilemma that generated several questions for the pair as they arrived for the annual General Managers meetings in Phoenix on Monday.

“We’re going to have to be creative there,” Friedman told Orange Country Register’s Bill Plunkett.”There are some free agents we have interest in, some guys we have our eye on trade-wise. We’ll take this week to get an idea of what’s realistic and what’s not.”

Both Friedman and Zaidi acknowledged that the free agent market for shortstops is rather “limited” this off-season. That being said, there have been reports (aka: rumors) that the Dodgers have expressed interest in Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez and Oakland A’s shortstop Jed Lowrie as potential short-term stopgaps until Dodgers top shortstop prospect Corey Seager is MLB-ready, which could happen as early as September 2015 (or sooner). But both Dodger executives acknowledged that Seager, who turns 21 years old on April 27, will probably not be their opening day shortstop. They also indicated that it would be a stretch for light-hitting Miguel Rojas (.181) or inexperienced Erisbel Arruebarrena (22 major league games) to be the Dodgers everyday shortstop in 2015.

Twenty-nine-year-old (last Saturday) Gold Glove second baseman Darwin Barney could be another shortstop option for the Dodgers. After being acquired from the Cubs on July 28, the extremely likable Portland, Oregon native had a knack for getting on base in his 22 games with the Dodgers. Barney went 10 for 33 (.303) and had a phenomenal .467 on-base percentage. In addition to his 10 hits, Barney drew eight walks and was hit three times in his 45 plate appearances while striking out only three times. Although not known for his power (he has 19 home runs through five MLB seasons), a strong spring training could make him a leading candidate for the opening day shortstop job – albeit a long shot.

Regardless of where all of this ends up it’s going to be a wild ride this off-season.

Let the good times roll.