Major League Baseball has officially set the qualifying offer price at $22.025MM, according to an Associated Press report. Joel Sherman of The New York Post had reported last month that the QO would be around $22MM, and it indeed lands just above that mark.
The qualifying offer is calculated as the average salary for the league’s 125 highest-paid players. It tends to rise year over year as salaries on the top of the market generally inflate. Last year’s QO price was set at $21.05MM, so this represents a $975K bump. The previous years’ QO figures were as follows:
- 2012-13: $13.3MM
- 2013-14: $14.4MM
- 2014-15: $15.3MM
- 2015-16: $15.8MM
- 2016-17: $17.2MM
- 2017-18: $17.4MM
- 2018-19: $17.9MM
- 2019-20: $17.8MM
- 2020-21: $18.9MM
- 2021-22: $18.4MM
- 2022-23: $19.65MM
- 2023-24: $20.325MM
- 2024-25: $21.05MM
Teams have until five days after the conclusion of the World Series to decide whether to issue the qualifying offer to any of their impending free agents. Players who are issued the QO have 15 days to decide whether to accept the one-year deal or decline in search of a better (usually multi-year) contract. They are free to speak with all 30 teams during that 15-day period to get an early read on their market.
Not all free agents are eligible to receive a qualifying offer. A player cannot be tagged with a QO more than once in his career. Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Cody Bellinger are among this year’s free agents who have previously been issued the qualifying offer and thus cannot be tagged again. A team can only issue a QO to a player who spent the entire preceding season on their roster. Trade deadline acquisitions Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor and Merrill Kelly are all ineligible, as is August waiver claim Ha-Seong Kim (if he opts out of his deal with the Braves).
The qualifying offer entitles the former team to draft compensation if a player declines and signs elsewhere. Luxury tax paying clubs receive a draft choice after the fourth round. Revenue sharing recipients would get a pick at the end of the first round if the player signs for a guarantee of at least $50MM; the extra draft choice would otherwise fall between Competitive Balance Round B and the beginning of the third round (roughly 75th overall). Teams that neither pay the luxury tax nor receive revenue sharing get a pick after Competitive Balance Round B regardless of the contract value.
Signing a qualified free agent from another team comes with draft and/or international bonus pool penalties. Luxury tax payors lose their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2026 draft, plus $1MM from their ’27 bonus pool for international amateurs. Revenue sharing recipients lose their third-highest 2026 draft choice. Teams that neither paid the luxury tax nor receive revenue sharing forfeit their second-highest draft pick and $500K from their ’27 international pool. If a team signs multiple qualified free agents within the same offseason, they’d lose another draft pick and take a second matching hit to their international pool.
Last offseason, teams issued qualifying offers to 13 players, one of whom accepted. This winter will certainly see each of Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suárez receive and reject one. Brandon Woodruff, Michael King, Edwin Díaz, Zac Gallen and Trent Grisham are each likely to decline a QO as well.
The Cubs would probably make one to Shota Imanaga even if they don’t exercise their three-year, $57MM option on his services. Jack Flaherty would be a borderline QO candidate if he declines his $20MM player option, while Lucas Giolito, Gleyber Torres and Devin Williams are long shot possibilities. There are usually one or two surprise QO decisions each winter, with Nick Martinez and Nick Pivetta each being unexpected recipients a year ago.
So when Kyle Tucker rejects the qualifying offer, who will he sign with?
Bye bye Grisham. You don’t deserve the Q Offer.
Grisham is only good with Yankees no other team is going to give him long term deal.
The CF situation on the market isn’t good, but under your view, then the Yankees should not offer a QO, but instead wait for him to get no offers on the open market and to sign him back at league minimum. BTW Grisham crushed on the road this year, not at Yankee Stadium.
He won’t get a long term deal.
@champ
Grishy’s OPS was .904 on the road and .702 at home. 21 of his 34 homers came on the road. Likely, the Yanks helped him with his seeing. He was former 1st round pick that flashed power early in his mlb career.
He may not deserve it. (That arguable at best) ,however he’s going to get one regardless.
Yankees probably they lost Soto and Bellinger is walking.
What!? Me no understand that sir?
@Lloyd Emerson
Hanshin Tigers is what I’ve heard.
I had heard talks of Dodgers were looking hard at him. Teoscar Hernandez will be traded away from Dodgers
Last year he was fan favourite but his attitude is said to be wearing thin.
The guy can hit but that only goes so far.
Base running mistakes, position play, lack of hustle type stuff.
Source??? Or this you and your friends talking?
Attitude? Teoscar is beloved in the clubhouse and among the fan base. His poor defense and offensive regression is what would get him traded, not his attitude.
Cubs will not be able to afford him even at the Qualifying offer I thought came out of the press conference today. But he likes the city of Chicago.
Can I get a qualifying offer?
Are you a MLB free agent that has never received a qualifying offer previously in your career?
And if you have not, have you spent the entire season on your team’s roster?
Then yes.
I recommend asking Mr. Boras about the specifics.
He’s clearly self-represented if he needs to ask. We have more questions for @Goose before extending one.
“Where do you see yourself in five years, Goose?”
Bbref still has Goose in pre arb
I will most definitely accept a qualifying offer, if presented with one.
Gotten so high, unlike Willie Nelson, it defeats its own purpose.
I’d offer Grisham and Williams them if I’m the Yankees and if they accept I’d trade them if I don’t think I can use them, but Williams would be the 2nd best reliever on the team even with his bad implosions. Grisham I’d pay down some of his salary to trade for a rental reliever or bat if I can find someone who needs a lefty CF and has relief depth. If they decline the Yankees system needs all the picks and draft slot allotment they can possibly get.
If I’m Detroit I’d tender Gleyber and assume he takes it which feels win-win.
Williams at $21MM? Not happening.
I’m very iffy with Grish too. It depends on how negotiations are going with Belli right now.
I’d pass and sign Alonzo instead.
What makes you think that it would be so easy to trade them on a $22 mil contract?
More than likely the Yanks will be in contention at the trade deadline and would be buyers, not sellers. If for some reason they are out of the race, they’d have to pay down a big chunk of the salary. There is a reason most QO offer players are not traded after accepting.
If both (highly unlikely) are offered a QO, I guarantee they accept, so there would be zero draft pick compensation.
That’s quite expensive.
That is a lot of money
Yankees needs to unload Stanton his salary is very reasonable. Judge DH, Bellinger, Jones, and Dominez in the OF. I’d even trade Jazz and move Volpe to second. Lombard is coming. Sooooo many options endless possibilities. Something needs to be done this off-season finally
@mlb
Why in the world would you move Jazz, a young 30/30 guy who likes NY? Lombard is.nowhere ready to assume a mlb job. He’s struggling in AA right now.
Yeah great idea, trade our best infielder (Jazz), continue to start a black hole of offense (and I guess now defense) in Volpe, and hand the SS position over to a guy who isn’t in Triple A yet. We also don’t need Judge to DH, he’s a good defender and Stanton is resurgent
NO ONE, is taking Stanton’s contract even with the Marlins pay down.
The Yanks owe Stanton 2/34m. Coming off a 158 OPS+ season it’s not the most far fetched thing thinking someone might take that gamble when guys like Alonso and Schwarber will be asking for 4-5 times as much. Maybe they take back some guy owed 1/10m or something.
Why would Stanton okay a trade?
If the Cubs decline their team option on Shota, he has a player option for $15m/1 year he can exercise. If both the team option and player option are declined, only then would the QO come into play.
However, if they aren’t willing to do $57m/3 years, I can’t imagine they’d see value in him at $22m/1 year.
I personally would let him walk, and if he wants to pick up the player option, so be it.
What? Shota 3/57 is a no brainer. He’d probably get 25-30 million/year on the open market.
@kenlyo: Shota looks really bad and has no room for error absent pinpoint control. They got good value from him, and if he were a stock, perfect time to sell. No brainer to decline the 3/57 club option. In fact-he may accept 15mil trying to rebound in ’26.
He definitely isn’t going to opt in to 15m. He will get more than that on a 1 year deal with an option for a second. At the very least.
Maybe about that 15mil price point if both decline. He’s looking like a low velo washed up Dallas Keuchel. When the wheels fall off, it is fast. Execs get fired over throwing away 9 figures casually when warning signs are there…..outside of the high budget clubs.
Meant 8 figures.
Wondering what teams have never made a qualifying offer?
Don’t think Pirates have ever made one. They usually trade their best players before they become a free agent.
I can’t nail down your question entirely but I did find that no team has not been involved in the QO process by either making an offer or signing a player with a QO from another team or both. All teams have at some point been involved in the process.
mlb.com/news/history-of-mlb-qualifying-offer-decis…
The Pirates made qualifying offers to Russell Martin and Francisco Liriano after the ’14 season of 15.3M. Then to Josh Harrison after ’18 season for 17.9M
@david Nope! When did Josh Harrison get a QO from the Pirates in your recollection? After the 2018 season they declined his team option that was only a net 9 M$, so they certainly didn’t extend him a QO then.
The Pirates qualified Russell Martin back in the day.
Thanks for everything and good luck Jonah/Adolis. I’ll never forget 23 but we have to keep pushing forward.
Something tells me Ha-Seong Kim wasn’t getting a QO either way.
Not sure why you say that. ATL picked him up knowing that he’d cost at least 16M$ next year. A 1 year deal never hurts a team. And in the past 5 year, 12 different shortstops have signed longterm deals paying 24M$ + a year…..so 22M$ for 1 is not a big deal.
Yeah I think there is a chance the Braves QO him and he accepts. Though I think they probably don’t offer him one and instead wait out his market and sign him to a 2-3 year deal.
If you read the article, Kim is ineligible for the QO.
@Squeeze32
Wait read? There was an article? You mean this isn’t the place to voice arbitrary random and often made up stories?
I could see Grisham surprising everyone and taking the QO just to bet on himself by turning next season into a repeat of this one or maybe better and then going after a multi year deal. Could happen.
Grisham has made about ~$18M in his career so far. One year of the QO is going to be more than that so maybe he would bite on just the high yearly earnings.
I could be way off on his market since it’s hard to gauge with his track record, but Spotrac is projecting 4/48 for him and that seems about right to me. If he’s on the market with a declined QO that’s not going to help his cause either
Yeah I think Grisham would be wise to take the QO if it’s offered. 2025 was great, but fresh off a previous 3 year run that saw him hit .191/.298/.353 (84 OPS+) I would imagine is going to keep any offers more reasonable then his 2025 stats would suggest he warrants. How the heck did he only hit 9 doubles in 580+ PA’s?
Do Luis Arraez and Robert Suarez get one?
Seems a big heavy for Suarez, given that it would almost triple his 2 year player option.
Arraez likely doesnt get one. He just doesn’t provide enough value and is likely to accept.
Luis Arraez is exactly what the Yankees need. Watch Ninja Cash not get him.
A no glove, no OBP guy?
More likely, the Dodgers sign him and trade Teoscar to a team that can use him as a DH.
Yes that’s unforeseen because we won’t see it