Trevor Bauer, George Springer, DJ LeMahieu and J.T. Realmuto all declined their respective qualifying offers and are now set to hit free agency as the top names on the market.
Bauer, 29, is expected to be crowned the NL Cy Young later tonight, after pitching to a league-leading 1.79 ERA with 100 strikeouts across his 11 starts this season.
LeMahieu may return to the Yankees, but the 32-year-old likely sees this as his last opportunity to secure a long-term contract. The infielder won his second batting title this season, hitting .364/.421/.590.
Realmuto and Springer each become free agents as the best players at premium positions, with the former being the league’s top catcher and the latter being an elite center fielder.
Now it will be interesting to see if there are big contracts out there for these four All-Star caliber free agents in a market that is going to be unpredictable.
Marcus Stroman was the first free agent to accept the $18.9 million qualifying offer as Metsmerized reported on Wednesday, but Kevin Gausman would eventually follow suite.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that Gausman will return to the Giants on the one-year deal, after experiencing a breakout season in San Francisco this year. The 29-year-old pitched to a 3.62 ERA, while setting career-best marks with his 1.10 WHIP and 11.9 K/9.
Stroman and Gausman are both represented by The Legacy Agency, so it is not surprising that each of them would come to the same conclusion on accepting the qualifying offer.
