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The first step in MLB free agency is here: qualifying offers. Every year, players are offered these short contracts but most don't accept them. It's mostly a formality, as anyone who's going to have competition on the open market will likely decline a qualifying offer. Here's everything you need to know about them.
What is a qualifying offer?
A qualifying offer is a one-year, $21.05 million deal. It's a flat fee across the board for all MLB players who are about to enter free agency. More often than not, this is lower than the AAV they'd get on the open market, hence why almost everyone declines it. It is determined by the average salary of the top 125 contracts in MLB. This year, it came out to just over $21 million.
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What does a team get from a qualifying offer?
If a team gives a qualifying offer to a player who declines and signs with another team, the original team that lost their player to free agency can get draft-pick compensation in the following year's MLB Draft. There are compensatory picks in every draft.
Players who did receive a qualifying offer in 2024
Players who have never received a qualifying offer, i.e. are entering free agency for the first time, can get a qualifying offer from teams. This year, those players are Juan Soto, Teoscar Hernandez, Max Fried, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, Corbin Burnes, Sean Manaea, Nick Martinez, Nick Pivetta, Anthony Santander, Luis Severino and Christian Walker.
Should these players leave their 2024 teams, the team will at least get a draft pick to try and replace them down the road. Most of the time, these are declined, so it's just done to ensure a team isn't totally left out if they lose out on their former player.
Players who did not receive one
Not everyone who was eligible for a QO got one. Walker Buehler, Shane Bieber, Gleyber Torres, Tyler O'Neill, Jurickson Profar,and Ha-Seong Kim did not receive one despite being eligible. This is primarily because teams likely believed they would not be worth a $21.05 million price tag in free agency.
