Abreu, Odorizzi stay put

Pitcher Jake Odorizzi accepted a $17.8 million qualifying offer to stay with the Minnesota Twins and first baseman Jose Abreu took the same amount to remain with the Chicago White Sox as general managers headed home Thursday following their fourday annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Just 10 free agents received the qualifying offers by Nov. 4. Their former teams will receive draftpick compensation if they sign elsewhere before the amateur draft in June. Players who did not accept included pitchers Gerrit Cole (Houston), Stephen Strasburg (Washington) and Zack Wheeler (New York Mets), along with third basemen Anthony Rendon (Washington) and Josh Donaldson (Atlanta) and outfielder Marcell Ozuna (St. Louis).

Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only eight of 90 offers have been accepted. The others were Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters, Houston outfielder Colby Rasmus and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson after the 2015 season; New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker and Philadelphia pitcher Jeremy Hellickson following the 2016 season; and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher HyunJin Ryu last offseason.

Odorizzi, a righthander who turns 30 in March, was a careerbest 157 with a 3.51 ERA for the AL Central champions, striking out 178 in 159 innings. He can become a free agent again after the 2020 season, when there will be no loss of draft picks attached and fewer highlevel starting pitchers competing for attention.

Abreu hit .284 with 33 homers and his 123 RBIs were second to Rendon’s major leaguebest 126. He turns 33 in January, and the oneyear deal could be a precursor to a multiyear contract with the White Sox.