Fourteen free agents received qualifying offers from their former teams Thursday as Major League Baseball free agency officially began and players were free to sign with any organization.
Among those tendered the offer, which is for a one-year, $19.65 million contract in the 2023 season:
• New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge
• New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom
• Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner
• Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts
• Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson
• San Francisco Giants left-hander Carlos Rodón
• Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo
• Mets right-hander Chris Bassitt
• Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras
• Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo
• Dodgers left-hander Tyler Anderson
• Texas Rangers left-hander Martín Perez
• Giants outfielder Joc Pederson
• Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi
Players have 10 days to decide whether to accept the offer.
The best players typically turn them down without any consequences. Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only eight of 110 offers have been accepted. Among the 14 players given $18.4 million offers last year, only San Francisco first baseman Brandon Belt said yes.
The qualifying offer has saddled enough free agents, however, that Anderson, Perez, Pederson and Eovaldi could consider accepting it. Teams also can use the qualifying offer in hopes of working out a longer-term deal before the 10-day window expires.
A free agent can be made a qualifying offer only if he has been with the same team continuously since opening day and has never received a qualifying offer before. If a team makes a qualifying offer to a player who signs a major league contract with another club before the amateur draft, his former club would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round or at the end of competitive balance round B. The placement depends on the amount of the new contract and the revenue-sharing and luxury-tax status of the team losing the player.
The qualifying offer price is the average of the top 125 contracts by average annual value. The price started at $13.3 million in 2012.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.