San Francisco Giants fans stunned by team extending 19.65 million dollar Qualifying Offer to Joc Pederson

The San Francisco Giants have made a qualifying offer to slugger Joc Pederson, and their fans are stunned. Pederson was an All-Star player in 2022, but many believe this would be an overpay from the Giants. The Giants had an uncharecteristically bad season by their standards, missing the postseason. Clearly, the front office believes Pederson is part of the solution, not the problem.

Qualifying offers are usually reserved for top players becoming free agents around the MLB. Pederson is an All-Star, but few would argue he is on the same level as Aaron Judge or Jacob deGrom. Because of this, we can clearly see how highly the San Francisco Giants think about Pederson.

Jon Heyman provided a comprehensive list of players that received a qualifying offer via Twitter.

Giants fans were beyond surprised to see Pederson's name on that list. After hitting a batting average of .275 with 23 home runs, they expected him to re-sign with the team. Not at 19.65 million dollars a year, though. The hope was that any extension would be much more team friendly.

The expectation around the league is that Joc Pederson will be one of the few players to accept the qualifying offer. Other stars typically decline it, knowing they can make more on the open market. Purely from a financial position, this is likely the most valuable offer that Pederson will receive for a single season of his services.

Joc Pederson can bring a lot to the table for any team in the MLB. This qualifying offer does have logic to it. The question is mainly about resource management and how the San Francisco Giants will conduct the rest of their free agency. Based on reports, the team has no issue being big spenders this offseason, which lines up with this kind of offer.

While no decision has been made yet by Pederson, the assumption is that he will be playing in San francisco in 2023.

The San Francisco Giants are relying on Joc Pederson to be part of their 2023 team

San Francisco Giants v Philadelphia Phillies

While this move was surprising to people outside the organization, it is clear that the organization believes in Pederson. It's hard not to, as he was clearly respected in the clubhouse and had an All-Star season.

While injury issues have been a problem for Pederson, there is obvious confidence that these issues are in the past. If Joc Pederson is able to stay healthy and have another All-Star season, he will prove all those who doubted his worth wrong.