Unlike the Winter Meetings, which are a time for clubs and agents to get down to the nitty gritty of roster-building for the following season and beyond, the annual General Managers Meetings are a time for the league’s top baseball executives to gather to discuss the game in general.

Executives will be in meetings for most of their time in Scottsdale, Ariz., where this year’s event will take place beginning Tuesday. Among the topics expected to be on the docket are reviewing the rule changes from the 2023 season, discussing the postseason format and a number of other issues surrounding the game.

• Latest free-agent and trade rumors

Here’s a primer on what to expect this week during the GM Meetings:

Free agency officially begins

Some years, the World Series extends deep enough that free agency doesn’t even start until the league’s GMs have departed their annual meetings. This year, thanks to the Rangers’ five-game triumph over the D-backs, the five-day window during which free agents are only allowed to discuss financial parameters with their former club ends on Monday, officially opening the free agent market to all 30 clubs.

Don’t mistake this to mean that free agents will actually begin signing with new clubs this week, but virtually every agent will be in Scottsdale, opening dialogue with clubs around the league to gauge which ones may have interest in their players.

• Free agent rankings: Top 25 for the 2023-24 offseason

Who received qualifying offers?

For many free agents, there was one bit of business that needed to get done before talks with other teams could begin in earnest. Monday at 5 p.m. ET was the deadline for teams to extend qualifying offers to their free agents, allowing them to receive Draft-pick compensation if the player signs with another club.

Seven of the league’s top free agents ended up receiving the qualifying offer, which is worth $20.325 million this season. Among those were Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman and Josh Hader.

• The players who did (and didn't) receive qualifying offers

It should be noted that any free agents who received qualifying offers before or were traded during this past season are not eligible to receive a qualifying offer this winter. Marcus Stroman, Brandon Belt, Zack Greinke, Joc Pederson and Craig Kimbrel have received a qualifying offer in the past, while free agents such as Jordan Montgomery, Jeimer Candelario and Lucas Giolito were traded during the season.

Trade SZN

It’s rare for much news to actually break during the GM Meetings, but that doesn’t mean this week won’t help shape the offseason ahead. As previously noted, agents will have conversations with executives about their free agent players, but the real groundwork that tends to take place at these meetings is in the trade department.

Executives are rarely in the same place at the same time, so this week gives them an opportunity to sit down with each other over a drink or dinner to get an idea of which players might be available for trade and what the acquisition costs would be.

Odds are that no major trades will take place this week, but that doesn’t mean teams won’t begin getting a feel for what might be in the cards in the coming weeks.

New faces at the top

Chris Getz of the White Sox and Craig Breslow of the Red Sox have been to the GM Meetings in past years, but never in the role of top decision-maker for a club. That will change this week, as Getz and Breslow are running Chicago and Boston, respectively, embarking on the challenge of returning the two big-market teams back to the postseason after difficult 2023 seasons.

• Red Sox introduce Breslow: 'I know what it takes to win here'

Another new face in a new place is David Stearns, who spent seven years running the Brewers but is now the president of baseball operations for the Mets, having been hired to replace ex-GM Billy Eppler. Stearns has plenty of experience in this role, though he’s never run a club that spends like Steve Cohen’s Mets, giving him an opportunity to swim in free agent waters he’s never even been able to dip his toes in before.

The fourth team with a change at the top of the front office is the Marlins, who parted ways with GM Kim Ng last month when Ng declined her half of a mutual option for 2024. Miami seems to have found a new leader just in time for the GM Meetings. A source told MLB.com on Sunday night that Miami is hiring Rays general manager Peter Bendix to be its president of baseball operations.

Managerial carousel

For some clubs, there’s a more pressing need than signing free agents: finding a manager.

The Angels, Astros, Brewers and Padres all have vacancies in the managerial department, and while those interviews aren’t expected to take place at the GM Meetings, it will surely be a topic of conversation among executives as they look to fill those jobs.

• Rumors and candidates for open manager/GM jobs

It isn’t unusual for execs to pick the brains of their peers for intel on potential candidates, getting outside perspectives on those they have met with or may be meeting with in the future. There are a also a number of managers who make appearances at the GM Meetings to meet with their front offices, though these four teams are still working through the process to get their skipper in place.

A pair of prominent names on the managerial market, Craig Counsell and Carlos Mendoza, are no longer options for teams still searching for dugout leadership. Counsell was hired by the Cubs on Monday, with Mendoza landing with the Mets (per a source) the same day.