With the World Series now over, clubs have five days to decide whether or not to issue qualifying offers to eligible players. The Diamondbacks were thought to be facing a decision on outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. but Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that Gurriel’s current contract prohibits him from receiving a QO.
Normally, players are eligible for a qualifying offer at the end of a season if they spent that entire campaign with just one club and have not previously received a QO. That made Gurriel a borderline candidate to receive a QO, which is set to be around $20.5MM this year. But today’s news indicates that won’t be on the table after all.
Players coming to the majors from foreign leagues often have stipulations in their contracts that allows them to circumvent the rules that typically apply to other players. One of the more common clauses is that players coming from Cuba or Asia can become free agents when the contract expires, even if they are shy of the standard six years of service time normally required to automatically hit the open market. It appears Gurriel’s contract also has a clause preventing him from being saddled with a qualifying offer.
Now 30, Gurriel played in Cuba from 2010 to 2016 but defected with his brother Yuli Gurriel before signing a seven-year, $22MM deal with the Blue Jays. He spent all of 2017 in the minors and had optional assignments in 2018 and 2019 as well. That meant that he accrued between five and six years of service time over the seven years of that deal, but the language in the contract allowed him to qualify for free agency regardless.
Prior to the final year of the deal, the Jays traded him and catching prospect Gabriel Moreno to the Diamondbacks for outfielder Daulton Varsho. Gurriel had a solid season for the Snakes, hitting 24 home runs and slashing .261/.309/.463 for a wRC+ of 106. The reviews on his left field glovework were mixed, with Defensive Runs Saved giving him an excellent +14 while Outs Above Average had a more modest +1. That led to a tally of 3.0 wins above replacement from Baseball Reference and 2.1 from FanGraphs.
It would have been an interesting call for the Diamondbacks whether to issue a QO or not. A salary of $20.5MM for a solid but not elite everyday player is arguably an overpay, especially for a club that’s not a huge spender, but it wouldn’t have been egregious. That’s a moot point now as his contract won’t allow them to consider the QO at all.
This revelation benefits Gurriel, as receiving a qualifying offer usually harms a player’s earning power in free agency. Signing a player who rejects a QO means the signing club is subject to draft pick forfeiture and, in some cases, a reduction of their international bonus pool limit. Gurriel may have been able to enter free agency without a QO regardless but it’s now apparent that the language of his contract guarantees it. He is now free agent and will be one of the better bats available in a position player market headlined by Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Teoscar Hernández, Matt Chapman and Jeimer Candelario.
Haven’t seen this since Yoenis Cespedes. Not sure how it works.
In a world where QO compensation matters – it’s a huge deal bc 1/2 the teams in baseball wouldn’t compete for free agents bc they’d have to give up their 1st or 2nd rounder. So FA would loose millions due to a restricted market.
MLB fixed all that when they changed the rules a few years ago so now it’s actually a negative imo. 20 mil to play next season should have been an e z choice if the dbacks made the offer
I think it was because he got traded during the offseason so he’s not eligible for a QO
That rule applies for deadline trades.. not offseason
Not deadline. Anytime during season
Like Wadz said, Gurriel was traded before opening day 2023 so that rule doesn’t apply here.
Nope, that’s how they get a qo, traded during the season voids that
That’s only in season trades not off season trades
If you start requiring people to read the article to comment, its going to be a short conversation.
He signed a 7 year contract, that had a stipulation that the contract was done after the 7 seasons no matter how much mlb time he had accrued. So even though he technically hasn’t reached 6 years of control, he is still a free agent. So because of that clause, a team can’t offer the QO which would essentially allow the team an extra year of control
Having less than 6 years of service time doesn’t exactly mean you can’t get a QO. Yoenis Cespedes got one after 2016 despite only having 5 years of service time. And Ha-Seong Kim can get one next year assuming he isn’t traded midseason.
You missed the point. The team does not control the player through arbitration even though he has not accrued 6 years of service time. He signed a 7 year deal. Even if he spent the entire time in the minors, he was a free agent. Kim’s contract a different, it has a mutual option after next season, which negates the QO
I knew and know the point. International signings who make their MLB debuts after their 24th birthday are free agents when their contract expires even if they fail to accrue 6 years of service time by that point. They are not subject to salary arbitration like most players. I do not know why Cespedes and Gurriel were also ineligible for QO’s while Ha-Seong Kim will be eligible.
Gurriel negotiated a clause in his contract. So did Cespedes. Kim did NOT have the clause negotiated into his contract. its that simple.
“International signings who make their MLB debuts after their 24th birthday are free agents when their contract expires even if they fail to accrue 6 years of service time by that point.”
This is not true. The only players who don’t have to accrue 6 years of service – qualifying as Article XX-B Free Agents – are typically those who signed after their 25th birthday and have 6 years of foreign service (KBO/NPB/CNS), and have it directly written into their MLB (not MiLB) contract. Gurriel didn’t meet the age or foreign service requirements but he still had the clause written into his MLB contract that he signed with TOR. He also had the non QO clause written into it.
He previously received a QO
He did not, he was under contract with the jays for the whole time
I think it’s the terms he came from Cuba with. A couple others(international signings)have had similar situations. Gurriel was better than expected, good for him, go get those free agent dollars.
It’s one clause. His original 7 year deal with jays made him a free agent after 7 years no matter how much mlb time he accrued
Sounds like there’s a clause in his contract that prevents it.
He should be the Red Sox top target (as a position player) cause we all know they won’t go after Ohtani or Soto
Pitching needs to be their top target at least 2 starters
Ohtani will absolutely be a top target for the Red Sox, they will likely offer him the most but it’ll also be heavily incentive laden.
$30-35 mil per as DH with pitching incentives that boost it over 50 mil per once he’s healthy again. I could see them throwing 30 mil per at Yamamoto easily too.
They can spend up to ~100 mil this year before penalized, potentially more depending on trades, and yes they will be very active now.
Completely unrelated but his hair looks dumb. It’s not funny or fun anymore, just stupid. Him and 100 DBack fans think it’s cute. Maybe it’s karma biting him in the tush.
Karma due to his hair?
That’s a dumb take.
What’s the karma here, that he gets to go to free agency instead of being stuck with a QO? I don’t get it.
It appears Bababooney didn’t get it either.
There are 100 DBack fans?
I think he’s got cool hair
Listen I am the biggest dbacks fan he is fun and a good guy but we need matt Chapman and I would rather JD martinez. It would be to much money for a 270 hitter. He did exactly what I thought he would do. Solid player. But as you can see we need hitting. We need a threat in the middle of that lineup. Longoria and gurriel and pham are not everyday players. I would keep pham and let gurriel and longo go.
If being a .270 hitter is your threshold for being worth QO money and you’re pining for Matt Chapman, boy have I got news for you.
Matt champman in Arizona can hit 35 hrs. he can cover the 3rd base position we need so bad. Gurriel can’t be the middle of the order guy. I don’t care if Chapman bats 230 but hits 35 hrs. Plus I said I want JD as well. We need hr threats. We already have speed and solid players. But it takes us 3 hits to score. We need a guy who can do it in one.
Chase Field isn’t exactly the hitters haven it used to be. By park factors, Toronto and Arizona had the exact same score and it was much easier to hit HR in Toronto than Arizona (the humidor has made an impact). In fact, Arizona is now 26th in HR park factor.
The ball absolutely dies in Chase Field. So many post season dingers turned into routine fly outs. That humidor is too much.
LOL who do you think Matt Chapman is? He’s great defensively and might hit 20 HRs, dudes bat is in decline. He’s a guy you pinch hit for at the end of the game, not put in the middle of your lineup.
Which is why their style of small ball plays well there. Home runs can be overrated and boring for the game.
Any type of over reliance of any type of offensive baseball can be boring. You have to have a mixture to truly be effective.
Despite lourdes having a more productive season offensively, scoring more runs, driving in more rbi’s even having more hr. He still finished with a lower offensive WAR than chapman. Add in chapmans stellar d it may make sense. Would truly solidify the defense.
I am not sure it is the difference maker you think it would be unless he somehow hits above 280 which he has never done.
Does Ha Seong Kim have this clause in his contract where he’s ineligible for a QO?
If he does Padres better work out an extension asap or trade him.
I heard a rumor Maeda had this clause as well but haven’t seen anything to confirm it.
Ha-Seong Kim does not appear to have any such clause in his contract.
Well, Gurriel Jr. should stay, he seems happy and played well
Just work it out
Also as a side note,, Gurriel Sr. seems like a cool cat too
I saw him on TV on Father’s Day in 2022 and he just seemed like a nice man!
He had 5 homers in 2022 then 24 in 2023. Big risk for 20M to assume 24 homers is repeatable. I totally get the expiring contract says no QO. But will be interesting if he has that added to his next contract, or else when it expires he could be offered a QO I would think.
He had a wrist injury in 2022, everyone knew this except I guess..Atkins? As he thew him into an already overpay.
2021: 21 HR
2020 11 HR in 57 games
2019 20 HR in 84 games
2018 11 HR in 65 games
There is minimal risk of power for Gurriel. There is risk in that he is generally a poor defender (with a good arm).
Since his next deal won’t be an International signing, I doubt he can specify the QO thing in it. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall ever hearing anyone do that.
QO him in his mid 30’s. I dare you.
Gurriel had a really good year for the Diamondbacks. Even with the dearth of Outfielders in Arizona (most of whom bat left handed) i would definitely consider at least trying to re-sign him as they will need a RH for OF/DH AB’s (though that could go to Kyle Lewis)
After reading these comments, I can’t believe how many commenters fail to understand the plain language of this article. I researched Gurriel’s contract terms way back when the Dbacks traded for him, and understood that he was a 1 year acquisition. He WILL NOT be a Dback next year, via a QO or a contract extension. He is a Free Agent PERIOD.
The Dbacks can offer any Free Agent a contract, including Gurriel. But I highly doubt the Dbacks will be the highest bidder for his services, even though many of us Dbacks fans would like to see him back next year.
It isn’t like this is a surprise to the D’Backs.
We give Cubans handouts special immigration status and freebies on day one, why stop now?
He was given assylum. So sorry it bothers you.
I’d bet he pays more in taxes than you do.
Well the QO would be an overpay for a year for this guy anyway and doubtful any club would give him that.
Didn’t know Serie guys got this too.
besides Ohtani none of those bats/hitters impress me much . I don’t think I’d be willing to spend much on any of them.
Not even Bellinger? Maybe high risk but potentially huge payout
Kim Ng should have offered Jorge Soler a Qualifying Offer before resigning to stick it to their cheap owners
Why bc his hair?
He lead all LF in DRS since he took over the position full-time in 2023.