The following 12 players were each extended one-year qualifying offers worth $15.3 million by their teams before yesterday’s deadline:
Catchers
Infielders
Victor Martinez
Hanley Ramirez
Pablo Sandoval
Outfielders
Melky Cabrera
Nelson Cruz
Michael Cuddyer
Starting Pitchers
Francisco Liriano
Ervin Santana
Max Scherzer
James Shields
Relief pitchers
These 12 players will now have one week to decide whether or not to accept the QO or instead reject the offer and pursue a bigger deal in the free agent market.
If any of them reject the offer and sign with a new team, their former team will receive a compensatory pick in next June’s draft, while their new team forfeits their top unprotected draft pick.
Among these players, the Mets had been connected closely to Michael Cuddyer, and to a lesser degree, Melky Cabrera. However, neither will be pursued by the Mets now because of their draft pick compensation. The Mets do not have a protected pick.
This is the third offseason under the qualifying offer system and in that time, no player has ever accepted their team’s guaranteed offer. That decision backfired on free agents Stephen Drew, Kendrys Morales, Ervin Santana and Nelson Cruz, who each ended up signing lesser one-year deals. This could be the year when we’ll finally see players accepting their qualifying offers and Cuddyer will certainly be one of them.
