Monday (Nov. 3) at 5 p.m. ET was the deadline for MLB teams to extend one-year qualifying offers to their free agents. This year, the qualifying offer is $15.3 million, which is based on the average annual salary of baseball’s top 125 contracts.
Last year, the qualifying offer was extended to 13 players, all of whom turned down the one-year, $14.1 million offer and opted for free agency. But because those players received qualifying offers, any other club that signed them to a free agent contract had to surrender their first-round selection in the next MLB Draft. The team losing its player would then receive a compensation pick.
That was too much of a risk for several free agents. Ervin Santana and Nelson Cruz waited until spring training had already started before finding a team to sign with. Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales were on hold even longer, remaining unsigned until after the 2014 MLB Draft had passed in June when teams no longer had draft picks to surrender. In prior years, Kyle Lohse and Michael Bourn were among the free agents penalized by receiving qualifying offers and thus costing teams a first-round selection.
(Teams with selections in the top 10 are protected, and can sign such free agents without giving up their first-rounder draft pick.)
This year, 12 players were extended qualifying offers before Monday’s deadline. They’re listed below and have until 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 10 to decide whether to accept or decline the one-year offer. Which of them could be this year’s Santana, Cruz or Drew? Is this the year a free agent finally accepts a qualifying offer? A couple of candidates among this dozen could strongly consider doing so.
Blue Jays
Melky Cabrera
Braves
Ervin Santana
Dodgers
Hanley Ramirez
Giants
Pablo Sandoval
Orioles
Nelson Cruz
Pirates
Francisco Liriano
Russell Martin
Rockies
Michael Cuddyer
Royals
James Shields
Tigers
Victor Martinez
Max Scherzer
Yankees
David Robertson
