Juan Soto and Alex Bregman head up a group of 13 free agents who received qualifying offers today
Qualifying offers were tendered to thirteen major league free agents today, per reports.
Those players are:
Juan Soto
Corbin Burnes
Alex Bregman
Max Fried
Willy Adams
Pete Alonso
Anthony Santander
Teoscar Hernandez
Nick Pivetta
Christian Walker
Sean Manaea
Luis Severino
Nick Martinez
A player accepting the qualifying offer gets a one year deal at $21.05 million. Should a player not accept the qualifying offer, he becomes a free agent, with a team signing him giving up a draft pick, and the team losing him receiving draft compensation.
There are a couple of tough calls here for players to make. Pivetta would seem likely to accept the qualifying offer — he put up a 4.14 ERA in 145 innings for the Boston Red Sox in 2024, and has never had more than a 2.5 bWAR in a season. He is the type of player whose market would seem to be dampened significantly if a team has to give up a draft pick to land him.
Nick Martinez, meanwhile, opted out of the second year of his deal with the Cincinnati Reds that would have paid him $12 million in 2025. He split the season between the rotation and the bullpen for the Reds, putting up a 3.10 ERA and 3.21 FIP, good for a 4.0 bWAR, after having accumulated 2.7 bWAR in a similar role the previous two years with the Padres. A guaranteed $21 million payday may well be more attractive than hoping a team is willing to give up a second round pick on a multi-year deal.