The deadline for teams to offer players heading toward free agency a qualifying offer was 5 p.m. ET on Thursday. It is a one-year, $19.65 million deal for the 2023 season to stay put. The players are free to accept the offer and remain with the team for at least another year or decline the offer and hit free agency.
For the first few years under this system, every single player rejected the qualifying offers, but more recently we’ve seen a few players accepting it instead of testing free agency with draft compensation attached.
Speaking of which, we’ll hit those compensation rules more below.
The players eligible to receive a qualifying offer are those who spent the entire 2022 season with the same team before hitting free agency when the World Series concluded and have not previously gotten a qualifying offer.
The following teams have chosen to extend a qualifying offer to the following players:
1 Braves SS Dansby Swanson 2 Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts, RHP Nathan Eovaldi 3 Cubs C Willson Contreras 4 Dodgers SS Trea Turner, LHP Tyler Anderson 5 Mets RHP Chris Bassitt, RHP Jacob deGrom, OF Brandon Nimmo 6 Yankees OF Aaron Judge, 1B Anthony Rizzo 7 Giants LHP Carlos Rodón, OF Joc Pederson 8 Rangers LHP MartÃn Pérez
Every other player listed as a free agent is unattached to the qualifying offer. Here are our top 50 free agents.
The players listed above have until Nov. 20 to accept or reject the offer. If a player rejects a qualifying offer and signs with a new team, here’s what happens (drawn from a full explainer written by Mike Axisa here).
Team losing player:
Player signs contract worth $50 million or less: Draft pick after competitive balance round B (before the third round).
Draft pick after competitive balance round B (before the third round). Player signs contract worth more than $50 million: Draft pick after first round.
Draft pick after first round. Former team pays competitive balance tax: Draft pick after fourth round regardless of contract size.
Team signing player: