Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried are among the 12 players who opted for free agency
Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried are among the 12 players who opted for free agency rather than signing qualifying offers extended to them by their teams, leaving the Cincinnati Reds right-hander, Nick Martinez, as the only player to accept before Tuesday’s deadline.
Soto, the crown jewel of this year’s free agent class, spent last season with the New York Yankees team that won the American League pennant and is widely expected to sign a contract worth al minus $500 million. Bregman, Adames, Alonso, Burnes and Fried should also get nine-figure deals.
The qualifying offer is a mechanism for teams to receive compensatory draft picks when their best players sign elsewhere. Eligible free agents – those who have not previously received a qualifying offer and spent the entire previous season with the same team – can receive a one-year contract for the average salary of the 125 highest-paid players in Major League Baseball, a figure that has increased from 13.3 million dollars to 21.05 million dollars in the last twelve years.
If that player signs with another team, his previous team will receive an additional draft pick, either after the first or fourth round, with the earlier picks going to teams in smaller markets and the later ones going to those with higher payrolls. . Teams that sign those players also face sanctions. The harshest ones apply to those who passed the luxury tax threshold, costing them their second- and fifth-highest picks in the upcoming draft and an additional $1 million in international bonus money.
Martinez’s agent, Scott Boras, said Monday that the right-hander will play next season on a one-year, $21.05 million contract. Since the qualifying offer system began in 2012, only 14 of 144 players have accepted one.
Being tied to a qualifying offer usually doesn’t affect high-demand free agents like Soto, Bregman, Adames, Alonso, Burnes or Fried. But the tier below them (a roster comprised of outfielders Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernandez, first baseman Christian Walker and starters Nick Pivetta, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino) could see their markets affected by teams hesitant to take the penalties they face. entails its hiring.
