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Pirates Claim Trey Cabbage From Astros

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The Pirates are claiming first baseman/corner outfielder Trey Cabbage from the Astros, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). Neither team has officially announced the move.

Houston had not previously designated Cabbage for assignment. They evidently placed him on waivers in recent days to take him off the 40-man roster. He would’ve qualified for minor league free agency had he gone unclaimed, but Pittsburgh saw enough to give him a 40-man spot.

Cabbage, 27, has played in 67 big league contests over the last two years. He made 22 appearances for the Angels two seasons ago and got into 45 contests with Houston this year. He hasn’t done much offensively, limping to a .209/.245/.331 slash line while striking out 60 times in 147 plate appearances (a 40.8% rate). The swing-and-miss is nothing new, as Cabbage has fanned in more than 30% of his Triple-A plate appearances. He has shown big power and surprising athleticism in his minor league career, though, including a 30-30 showing in the Halos’ system back in 2023.

Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to find an answer at first base in recent seasons. Cabbage isn’t a long-term solution, but he’s a depth flier who still has a minor league option remaining. If the Bucs carry him on the 40-man all winter, they can keep him in Triple-A for another season.

Orioles Exercise Club Option On Seranthony Domínguez, Decline Danny Coulombe

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The Orioles announced that they have exercise a club option on right-hander Seranthony Domínguez while declining their option on left-hander Danny Coulombe. They also announced that they have exercised options on left-hander Cionel Pérez and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, as was reported earlier today. Domínguez will get $8MM next year instead of a $500K buyout. Coulombe could have been brought back for a $4MM salary but instead becomes a free agent with no buyout.

Domínguez, 30 this month, was acquired from the Phillies at the trade deadline. He went on to make 25 appearances for the O’s with a 3.97 earned run average. He struck out 28.6% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 9.2% clip.

The righty now has a 3.59 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate over his 255 career appearances. Some of that has come in leverage situations, as he has racked up 38 saves and 58 holds in his career. Given that generally solid track record, it’s not really a surprise to see the Orioles plunk down another $7.5MM to keep him from getting away.

The decision on Coulombe is a bit more surprising as the lefty has had a solid two-year run with the O’s. He has tossed 81 innings for Baltimore since the start of 2023 with a 2.56 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate and 45.4% ground ball rate.

$4MM for a solid lefty reliever like that seems like good value for money but Coulombe also had some challenges this year. He underwent surgery in June to remove bone chips removed from his throwing elbow. He was able to come off the IL in September, making four appearances for the club down the stretch and one in the postseason, but that seemingly wasn’t enough to convince the O’s to keep him around for next year.

They could circle back to him in free agency but Coulombe will have a chance to speak to all of the other clubs as well. The fact that he’s now 35 and coming off an injury-marred season will hurt his earning power but his results over the past two years will work in his favor.

Mets Claim Kevin Herget From Brewers

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The Mets have claimed right-hander Kevin Herget off waivers from the Brewers, per a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. There had been no prior indication that Herget was designated for assignment, though with today’s deadline to activate players from the 60-day injured list plenty of 40-man roster movement is to be expected around the league.

Herget, 34 in April, signed a minor league deal with the Brewers last offseason after being cut loose by the Reds. He went on to get a limited amount of big league action in the majors in 2024, tossing 11 1/3 innings for Milwaukee with two earned runs allowed. In Triple-A, he had a larger sample of work, posting a 2.27 earned run average in 47 2/3 innings. He struck out 32.4% of batters faced at that level while only giving out walks 6% of the time.

The Mets were apparently intrigued by those strong numbers, grabbing Herget off waivers today. The Mets just lost Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, Ryne Stanek and Drew Smith to free agency so they have filled in some lost bullpen depth with this claim. Despite his age, Herget is still in his pre-arbitration years and is therefore cheap and can potentially be controlled for years to come.

Braves Decline Club Option On Travis d’Arnaud

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The Braves announced that they have declined their club options on catcher Travis d’Arnaud and right-hander Luke Jackson while picking up their option on designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. Jeff Passan of ESPN relayed the d’Arnaud news on X prior to the official announcement. The d’Arnaud option was for $8MM and came with no buyout and he will now enter the open market. Jackson will head to free agency as well, collecting a $2MM buyout instead of a $7MM salary next year. Ozuna’s option had a $1MM buyout but the club will bring him back with a $16MM salary instead.

The news on d’Arnaud is the most surprising development. Just one month ago, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said in his end-of-season press conference that the club was planning to pick up options on each of d’Arnaud, Ozuna and left-hander Aaron Bummer. They did indeed pick up Ozuna’s option while Bummer agreed to a reworked deal yesterday that saw the club essentially trigger Bummer’s two club options for 2025 and 2026, though with Bummer sacrificing a small amount of total earnings in exchange for more money to be locked in upfront.

The new deal for Bummer and also one for Reynaldo López saw Atlanta kick some money from their 2025 payroll ahead to 2026, indicating that payroll flexibility in the coming season is an ongoing issue for them. That’s likely a factor for the d’Arnaud call also, as the club can keep some powder dry for their offseason pursuits and perhaps circle back to d’Arnaud later in the winter.

Per RosterResource, Atlanta is projected for a payroll of $215MM next year, just $20MM shy of this year’s figure. They have plenty to do this winter, as they are set to lose Max Fried and Charlie Morton to free agency, opening up two rotation holes. It’s also possible that they could pursue upgrades over Orlando Arcia at shortstop, tweaks to the bullpen or other moves. Triggering d’Arnaud’s option would have locked in another $8MM today but it seems the club would rather hold onto that bit of spending capacity at least for now.

Atlanta clearly likes d’Arnaud, as they have a relationship that goes back a ways. He just finished his fifth season with the club, having signed multiple deals to stay in town. They signed him to a two-year, $16MM deal going into 2020. Late in 2021, as that deal was winding down, the two sides agreed to extend the relationship by another two years and with another $16MM. Midway through 2023, they agreed to another extension, locking in an $8MM salary for 2024 and the club option which has been turned down today.

During that time, d’Arnaud has hit .251/.312/.443 for a 106 wRC+. His framing and blocking have generally been well regarded and FanGraphs has considered him to have been worth 9.3 wins above replacement over his 384 games with Atlanta.

The club has clearly viewed him as worth $8MM per year in the past but isn’t locking him in at that price point now, despite Anthopoulos suggesting a month ago they likely would. He’ll now head to free agency and be one of the better backstops available. Guys like Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly are the best catchers in free agency this winter but d’Arnaud shouldn’t be too far behind that group.

With the shenanigans to move the López and Bummer money around and now d’Arnaud’s option being declined, perhaps the money is a bit tight for Atlanta at the moment. Given the way Anthopoulos operates, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them get creative on the trade market and move some contracts around, but the pursestrings might be a bit clenched for now.

As for Jackson, he’s had some good seasons in the past but has been up-and-down lately. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2022 season, just as he was headed into free agency. He signed a two-year, $11.5MM deal with the Giants going into 2023, with the aforementioned option for 2025. He was able to make 33 appearances last year with a 2.97 earned run average but his 2024 was more challenging. He missed time due to a lower back strain and eventually posted a 5.09 ERA on the year, getting traded back to Atlanta midseason. His 25.1% strikeout rate and 50.7% ground ball rate were solid but his 11.1% walk rate was on the high side.

Jackson has had some success in the past and got a solid deal even after missing a full season due to surgery. Spending $5MM on such a pitcher wouldn’t have been outrageous but it’s also not shocking to see the club move on when considering his poor 2024 campaign and their apparent budgetary concerns.

Orioles Exercise Club Options On Ryan O’Hearn, Cionel Perez

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The Orioles have picked up their $2.2MM club option on the services of left-hander Cionel Perez for the 2025 season, according to Francys Romero. Baltimore would’ve still had Perez under team control for 2025 via arbitration even if the option had been declined. They’ve also picked up their $8MM option on the services of first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, as first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Both will return to the club in 2025.

Whether or not the Orioles would pick up Perez’s option appeared to be a close call given that MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $2.1MM salary for the left-hander in his penultimate trip through arbitration. That comes in slightly lower than the figure Perez will now earn in 2025. It’s possible Baltimore’s own internal view of Perez’s likely arbitration salary came in a touch higher than MLBTR’s, although the Orioles’ decision may be as simple as not wanting to decline the option and risk an arbitration hearing with the southpaw over just $100K.

That there was any sort of decision to be made regarding the option would’ve registered as something of a surprise headed into the 2024 season. Entering this year, Perez had been among the club’s very best relievers over his two years in Baltimore. From 2022 to ’23, Perez dominated to the tune of a 2.43 ERA in 111 innings of work. That fantastic ERA was somewhat belied by higher 3.30 FIP thanks to Perez’s lackluster strikeout (20.6%) and walk (10%) rates over the past two years, but the lefty made up for that by generating grounders at an excellent 56.2% rate.

Unfortunately, Perez took a major step backwards in 2024 when it came to run prevention as his ERA ballooned to 4.53. With that being said, his peripherals remained remarkably similar to his previous successful seasons with the Orioles. His 11.8% walk rate was elevated and his 19.3% strikeout rate was just a tick lower than those previous figures, but the lefty maintained a strong 55.8% groundball rate and wound up with a 3.30 FIP that was identical to his average over the prior two seasons. Of course, it’s worth noting that Perez’s FIP is somewhat deflated by the fact that Perez managed to give up zero home runs during the 2024 campaign. While the lefty has typically been excellent at limiting hard contact throughout his career, it’s worth noting that his homerless season came in spite of a nearly doubled barrel rate relative to 2023.

Overall, Perez seems likely to remain with the Orioles as a solid lefty relief option, though perhaps not one they’ll be interested in offering high leverage duties to until and unless he can bring his strikeout and walk ratios closer to the 23.5% and 9% figures he flashed during his dominant 2022 campaign. The Orioles notably declined their club option on fellow lefty Danny Coulombe today, making Perez all the more valuable as he joins Keegan Akin and Gregory Soto as lefty options in 2025.

Turning to O’Hearn, the decision to pick his option up doesn’t register as much of a surprise given his excellent performance since first donning an Orioles uniform. The 31-year-old just wrapped up his second season with Baltimore and carries an overall slash line of .275/.329/.450 (119 wRC+), though even that slash line may be selling his growth with the club short as he massively improved his plate discipline in 2024. After striking out at a 22.3% clip and walking just 4.1% of the time in 2023, this year O’Hearn took free passes at an excellent 9.3% clip while striking out just 14% of the time. A small step back in the power department meant his wRC+ was largely unchanged from the year prior, but underlying metrics such as xwOBA viewed O’Hearn’s work in 2024 as a substantial improvement over his first season with the club.

As impressive as O’Hearn’s evolution in Baltimore has been, there do remain questions about his fit on the club’s roster entering next year. While Anthony Santander’s likely departure in free agency will open up some playing time in the corner/DH mix, the Orioles have already at times struggled to juggle playing time for O’Hearn and fellow first baseman Ryan Mountcastle when both are healthy in previous seasons. Looking ahead to 2025, they’ll be searching for ways to include Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad in the lineup more regularly, and either player could take up the lion’s share of playing time at DH with Mayo in particular even standing as a possible inclusion in the club’s first base mix as well. A trade of Mountcastle, one of the prospects, or even O’Hearn himself could help to clear up the clubs log jam at the position, and it would hardly be a surprise if the club decided to do so in order to upgrade a rotation facing plenty of questions headed into 2025 following the departure of Corbin Burnes and elbow surgery that will sideline Kyle Bradish for the start of next season.

Nathan Eovaldi Opts Out Of Rangers Contract

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Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) this morning that right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has declined his $20MM player option for the 2025 season, making him a free agent. Young added that the club has “great interest” in reuniting with him this winter.

Eovaldi, 34, just wrapped up his second season in Texas. The veteran right-hander was solid but unspectacular for the Rangers this year as he pitched to a 3.80 ERA (104 ERA+) with a 3.83 FIP in 170 2/3 innings of work. Given that rather uninspiring platform season, Eovaldi’s decision to opt out may register as something of a surprise at first glance. A closer look to the right-hander’s season and overall body of work makes it clear why he would opt out ahead of his age-35 season in hopes of seeking what could be the last multi-year pact of his career, however.

An All-Star for the Rangers just last year, Eovaldi has pitched to a 3.72 ERA (110 ERA+) and a 3.86 FIP during his time with the Rangers. Those results are largely consistent with the numbers he posted during his final three years with the Red Sox, for whom he posted a 3.79 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 3.43 FIP from 2020 to 2022, including a dominant 2021 season where he was named an All-Star and finished fourth in AL Cy Young award voting. Those numbers cast Eovaldi as a solid mid-rotation arm, and his underlying numbers suggest he could continue to be a quality, playoff caliber arm even as he ages.

His fastball velocity (which averaged 95.6 in 2024) remains strong even as he enters his mid-30s, and he maintains that high-octane stuff despite boasting a 5.6% walk rate that stands as the fifth-best in baseball over the past half decade among pitchers with at least 600 innings of work. During his time with the Rangers, he’s tended to be a victim of high home run rates, thanks in part to Globe Life Field being among the most homer-friendly parks in the sport. That reality in conjunction with his solid 7.7% barrel rate with the Rangers helps to explain why advanced metrics like SIERA think so highly of Eovaldi, whose 3.88 figure over the past two seasons mirrors that of top free agent starter Corbin Burnes.

Of course, Eovaldi surely won’t come especially close to matching Burnes or the other top pitchers on the market this winter in terms of guarantee. That’s both because Eovaldi’s overall results (115 ERA+ from 2020-24) have fallen well short of that upper echelon of pitching talent in recent years, and also because he’ll already be 35 years old when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in February. While it seems reasonable to expect Eovaldi to earn a healthy average annual value, it would be surprising to see him land more than two or three years in free agency. That makes him a particularly interesting free agent as a potentially impactful rotation piece who may be more attractive to teams that tend to hesitate on lengthy contracts, like the Angels, Cubs, and Orioles, in addition to the Rangers’ aforementioned interest in a reunion. Sean Manaea, Nick Pivetta, and Luis Severino are among the other players who figure to occupy the middle tier of the free agent rotation market this winter.

Rangers Promote Ross Fenstermaker To GM

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Nov 4: The Rangers officially announced that Fenstermaker has been promoted to general manager, and that they’ve hired Figueroa as assistant GM. Additionally, the Rangers officially announced the hiring of Justin Viele as hitting coach, a move that was first reported last week.

Nov 2: Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young was recently promoted to that title after signing an extension with the club back in September. That position had been vacant since Young took over baseball operations midway through the 2022 season after the firing of then-president Jon Daniels. Now, it’s the GM role that stands vacant, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported this evening that the Rangers may be on the verge of a front office shakeup that could lead to that vacancy being filled.

According to Grant, the club is “zeroed in on” hiring Rays director of baseball operations Cole Figueroa for an assistant GM role. That deal is not yet completed, with Grant saying the hire remains dependent on typical background checks being completed, but if that deal comes together than Grant suggests that the addition could subsequently lead to the Rangers promoting internally to fill the vacant GM role.

Figueroa, 37, was an infielder who briefly played in the majors from 2014 to 2016, collecting 84 plate appearances with the Rays, Yankees, and Pirates during that time. Since his retirement following the 2016 season, Figueroa began working in the Rays organization in baseball operations. He was promoted to assistant director of hitting development in 2018 before taking on his current role with the Rays following the 2021 season. In some ways, Figueroa’s ascent up to front office work is similar to that of Young, who spent 13 years pitching in the majors before moving first to the commissioner’s office and then to the Rangers’ front office as GM.

With Figueroa likely coming on board as an assistant GM, that could make way for a current assistant GM to move up the ladder and become Young’s #2 in the front office. Specifically, Grant suggests that assistant GM and VP of player development and scouting Ross Fenstermaker could be the person tapped for the role. Fenstermaker joined the Rangers as a baseball operations intern in 2010 and made his way up the ladder through the scouting department, serving as a scout and crosschecker for nearly a decade before being promoted to director of pro scouting in 2018 and then promoted once again to senior director of pro and international scouting two years later.

Of course, whether that actually occurs or not remains to be seen, even if the Figueroa hire is completed. Grant notes that the Rangers have left the door open to finding a new GM to give Young a right-hand man but have never committed to doing so, even as front offices around baseball have increasingly began to utilize the GM role as a second-in-command behind the president of baseball operations. Texas isn’t the only club seemingly contemplating the addition of a GM to their front office this winter; the Red Sox could look to promote internally for the role as well, while the Giants recently did the same in hiring Zack Minasian to serve under new president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

Red Sox Exercise Club Option On Rob Refsnyder

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The Red Sox announced this morning that they’ve exercised their club option on outfielder Rob Refsnyder for the 2025 season. Refsnyder will make $2.1MM in 2025.

The decision to exercise Refsnyder’s option was surely an easy one for the Red Sox, given the low financial cost associated with the deal and his excellent 2024 campaign. Though Refsnyder was only a part-time player for the Red Sox this year with just 307 trips to the plate across 93 plate appearances, the 33-year-old slashed an excellent .283/.359/.471 with a 130 wRC+, including a .302/.393/.548 with a 160 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. That ability to rake against southpaws is particularly valuable for the Red Sox due to their lefty-heavy lineup, where Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida are all swing lefty in the outfield mix.

Refsnyder hasn’t simply been a one-season wonder, either. The veteran has provided the club with quality production off the bench in each of his three seasons in Boston, slashing a solid .278/.367/.427 (122 wRC+) in 727 trips to the plate with the club since he first joined them back in 2022. That sort of steady production in a bench role can be difficult to come by, making today’s decision to bring Refsnyder back for 2025 something of a no-brainer. The biggest possible hurdle to Refsnyder returning to the Red Sox next year was the possibility that he could contemplate retirement following the 2024 campaign, but he put those questions to bed in late September when he suggested that he would be open to playing “a couple more years” before hanging up the cleats.

Obvious as the move to bring Refsnyder back into the fold for 2025 was, however, it only serves to highlight just how crowded the club’s outfield mix has become. Duran and Abreu figure to get the lion’s share of starts in two of three outfield spots next year with both Refsnyder and Yoshida also on the roster as players restricted to outfield and DH duties. Ceddanne Rafaela, meanwhile, is capable of playing all over the diamond but is the club’s best defensive center fielder on the roster and not nearly as well regarded defensively when on the infield dirt.

Playing time figures to be further complicated by the impending arrival of top prospect Roman Anthony, another lefty swinging outfielder, and the club has also been heavily rumored to have interest in adding an everyday player who hits from the right side like incumbent slugger Tyler O’Neill or 2023-24 offseason target Teoscar Hernandez to the lineup this winter. With so many outfield options to be considered, it would hardly be a surprise if the Red Sox looked to deal from their outfield mix in order to clear up playing time and address the rotation. If such a trade does come to pass, however, Refsnyder is unlikely to be the one departing the Red Sox. Moving on from his $2.1MM salary would be relatively inconsequential in the great picture of Boston’s financial outlook, and one year of a part time player is unlikely to command a major return on the trade market.

Mets Decline Team Option On Phil Maton

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The Mets have declined their $7.75MM team option on right-hander Phil Maton, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The 31-year-old will receive a $250K buyout and return to free agency.

The decision isn’t much of a surprise, even though Maton pitched quite well for the club down the stretch this season. The veteran righty posted a 2.58 ERA with a nearly identical 2.57 FIP in 28 2/3 innings of work after being acquired from the Rays in early July, with a 26.5% strikeout rate against a 5.3% walk rate. Those excellent numbers may have been worth considering the $7.5MM decision on his option if they were held throughout the season, but that unfortunately was not the case.

Not only did Maton struggle badly in the playoffs, with an 8.53 ERA in six appearances for the Mets this season, but his brief tenure with the Rays was something of a disaster. His 4.58 ERA in 35 1/3 frames with the club was 12% worse than league average by measure of ERA+, and his 5.63 FIP was 42% below par by measure of FIP-. He struck out just 19.7% of batters faced during his time with Tampa Bay, but even more concerning was the fact that his walk rate ballooned to 11.8% during that time. In all, that leaves Maton to enter free agency with a platform season that casts him as a solid but unspectacular middle reliever with a 3.66 ERA and 4.26 FIP in 71 appearances this year.

That’s more or less par for the course for Maton throughout his eight seasons in the majors. The right-hander sports a career ERA of 4.16 (100 ERA+) with a 4.00 FIP and a 25.9% strikeout rate against a 9% walk rate. The best season of Maton’s career came just last year with the Astros, his third season in Houston after the club acquired him from Cleveland midway through the 2021 campaign in the trade that made Myles Straw a Guardian. In 2023, Maton struck out 27% of opponents while walking 9.1% en route to a 3.00 ERA in 66 innings of work.

A club that buys into Maton’s 2023 performance and his stretch run during the regular season with New York this year could potentially look at the right-hander as a late-inning option, although it’s possible he’s best suited to serve as a steadying, veteran presence in a bullpen like those of the Tigers, Cubs, and Rockies that has relied heavily on relatively young and inexperienced players. All three of those teams figure to be in the market for relief help this winter, but that can also be said of virtually every team in baseball. That should leave Maton comfortably in position to land a big league deal this winter, even if it doesn’t come at an AAV north of $7MM like this team option would have if exercised.

As for the Mets, Edwin Diaz remains locked in as the club’s closer and players like Jose Butto, Sean Reid-Foley, and Alex Young all impressed with the club this year. While it wouldn’t be a shock to see them look for bullpen upgrades this winter (particularly from the left side), they’ve already begun to make additions with their recent deal to land right-hander Dylan Covey. The signing of Covey, who has struggled in the majors but spent time both as a relief arm and a starter, could signal that the Mets don’t plan to spend much of their considerable payroll flexibility this winter on relievers as they look to reconstruct their rotation, retain first baseman Pete Alonso, and get into the thick of the bidding for Juan Soto.

The Opener: Option Decisions, Qualifying Offers, Top 50 Free Agents

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With free agency scheduled to begin in earnest later today, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Deadline for option decisions:

A number of option decisions were settled over the weekend as players like starters Blake Snell and Sean Manaea opted out of their contracts while outfielder Cody Bellinger and starter Robbie Ray were among those to stick with their current clubs. A handful of option decisions remain, however, and will need to be sorted out before 4pm CT this afternoon. Among the most notable are Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw, and Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna. Eovaldi and Kershaw both have the ability to opt out of the final year of their contracts, while Atlanta holds a club option on Ozuna’s services for 2025. While most remaining options will either be straightforwardly picked up or declined, it’s possible some players and clubs could look to get together on a longer, reworked contract as the Royals and right-hander Michael Wacha did yesterday.

Perhaps the most interesting option decision of the day is the one facing the Yankees. Veteran ace Gerrit Cole opted out of the remaining four years and $144MM on his contract with the club on Saturday, but unlike most opt-out decisions that doesn’t automatically make him a free agent. Instead, the Yankees have until this evening to decide whether to allow Cole to test free agency or tack on an additional year and $36MM to the end of his deal, guaranteeing him $180MM over the next five years. $36MM annually through Cole’s age-38 season might be more than he’d earn in free agency coming off an injury-shortened season, but it nonetheless wouldn’t be a surprise if the Yankees went the extra mile to make sure they keep their ace in the fold during an offseason where their attention is going to be squarely focused on retaining Juan Soto.

2. Qualifying Offers to be made today:

Option decisions aren’t the only order of business due by 4pm CT this afternoon. That deadline also applies to clubs wishing to make a qualifying offer to their departing free agents. The QO, which is set at $21.2MM this year, is a one-year contract offer that clubs must make to players in order to receive draft pick compensation should they sign elsewhere in free agency. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco previewed QO decisions for both position players and pitchers last month, with Mets right-hander Luis Severino standing out as perhaps the most interesting borderline candidate to receive a QO. The majority of the winter’s top free agents, including Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes, are locks to receive (and reject) the QO. Once the QO is extended to a player, he has until 3pm CT November 19 to decide whether to accept or reject that offer.

3. MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents:

With the 2024-25 class of free agents on the verge of being mostly set in stone this afternoon, we here at MLBTR are excited to unveil our annual Top 50 Free Agents list later today. Some outlets have already published theirs, but we like to wait until the QO decisions have been revealed because they can have such a significant impact on a free agent’s market. This makes us a little bit late to the party but allows us to provide a bit more analysis and (hopefully) more accuracy. It’s our biggest post of the year and you should keep an eye out for it later today! Shortly after that comes out, we will also launch our annual prediction contest, where you can do your best to try and predict the events of an unpredictable offseason.

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