Ohtani, Bellinger head list of MLB's new free agents

Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Aaron Nola were among the 130 players who became free agents Thursday as baseball's business season began the day following the Texas Rangers' first World Series title.

Max Muncy (Dodgers), Joe Jiménez (Braves) and Colin Rea (Brewers) gave up a chance to go free and agreed to new contracts with their teams.

That free agent market also includes J.D. Martinez (Dodgers), Sonny Gray, Josh Hader, Matt Chapman and Jorge Soler.

Minnesota prevented outfielder Max Kepler and infielder Jorge Polanco from going free, exercising a $10 million option on Kepler and and $10.5 million option on Polanco. Each would have been owed a $1 million buyout had the option been declined.

At the start of the day, 61 additional players had the potential to go free by Monday, depending on decisions on options and opt outs.

Players may start negotiating with any team at 2 p.m. Monday, also the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers. Players may receive a qualifying offer if they spent the entire season with the team and have not previously received a qualifying offer. The amount is the average of the top 125 contracts by average annual value.

This year's offer price is $20.625 million, up from $19.65 million last year.

Rather than go free, Muncy agreed to a $24 million, twoyear deal with the Dodgers, Jiménez agreed to a $26 million, three-year deal with Atlanta and Rea got a $4.5 million, one-year contract with Milwaukee. The Brewers declined a $7.25 million option on lefty Andrew Chafin and a $2.5 million option on lefty Justin Wilson. They owe buyouts of $750,000 to Chafin and $150,000 to Wilson.

Washington declined a $3.3 million option on outfielder Victor Robles, who would be eligible for arbitration if tendered a contract.

• Nelson Cruz says he is retiring at age 43 after hitting 464 home runs in 19 major league seasons.

The seven-time All-Star announced his decision on The Adam Jones Podcast.

“So this is the last we're seeing of Nelson Cruz?” Jones asked.

“I think so, yeah,” Cruz responded.

Cruz was released by San Diego on July 10 after batting .245 with five homers and 23 RBIs in 49 games. He had signed a $1 million, one-year contract.

Cruz hit 18 postseason homers and played in consecutive World Series with the Texas Rangers in 2010 and '11. He made five appearances among the top 10 in Most Valuable Player voting.

Cruz hit .274 with 1,325 RBIs for Milwaukee (2005), Texas (2006-13), Baltimore (2014), Seattle (2015-18), Minnesota (2019-21), Tampa Bay (2021), Washington (2022) and San Diego.

• Atlanta right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was voted player of the year and the National League's outstanding player by fellow major leaguers in the annual Players Choice Awards of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Angels designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani was voted the American League's outstanding player, the union said.

Acuña became the first player with 40 homers and 70 steals in a season, hitting .337 with 41 homers, 106 RBIs and 73 stolen bases. No player previously had 40 homers and 50 steals in a season.

Ohtani hit .304 with 44 homers, 95 RBIs and 20 stolen bases and went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings. His pitching season ended Aug. 23 because of a torn elbow ligament, an injury that will keep him from the mound until 2025. His hitting season ended Sept. 3 due to an oblique strain.

Marcus Semien, the second baseman of the World Series champion Texas Rangers, won his second Marvin Miller man of the year award, given to a player whose leadership inspires others.

The New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole was selected as the AL outstanding pitcher and San Diego's Blake Snell the NL outstanding pitcher.

Comeback players were Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger in the NL and Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks in the AL.

Outstanding rookies were Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll in the NL and Baltimore infielder Gunnar Henderson in the AL.