5 players get qualifying offers; Stanton staying put
NEW YORK — New York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu and Philadelphia catcher J.T. Realmuto were among just six free agents who received $18.9 million qualifying offers on Sunday from their former teams.
Three righthanded pitchers also received the offers, Cincinnati’s Trevor Bauer, the New York Mets’ Marcus Stroman and San Francisco’s Kevin Gausman.
Those six players have until 5 p.m. Nov. 11 to accept the offers or press ahead as free agents, who could start negotiating contracts with all teams on Sunday night.
They are the only ones subject to compensation among the 181 players who became free agents in a market that also includes pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, outfielder Marcell Ozuna, shortstop Didi Gregorius and designated hitter Nelson Cruz.
A brutal market is expected, with many teams likely to cut payrolls following a regular season played with no fans in the seats because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
If a team makes a qualifying offer to a player who signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former club would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round or at the end of competitive balance round B.
A free agent could be made a qualifying offer only if he had been with the same team continuously since opening day and had never received a qualifying offer before.
Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only five of 90 offers have been accepted: New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker and Philadelphia pitcher Jeremy Hellickson after the 2016 season; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu after the 2018 season and Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu last season.
New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton and Boston designated hitter J.D. Martinez kept their contracts rather than go free and test the market following subpar seasons.
Stanton is owed $218million for seven seasons and Martinez $38.75 million for two years.
Boston declined a $6.85 million option on lefthander Martin Perez and opted to pay a $500,000 buyout to the 29-year-old, who became a free agent.
Reliever Dellin Betances exercised his $6 million player option with the Mets, deciding against taking a $3million buyout and becoming a free agent. Earlier, Mets reliever Brad Brach exercised his $2,075,000 player option for next season.
Arizona exercised a $4.25 million option on pitcher Merrill Kelly rather than pay a $500,000 buyout, and Baltimore exercised a $3.5million option on shortstop Jose Iglesias.
San Diego declined a $3million option on first baseman Mitch Moreland, which calls for a $500,000 buyout.
The Pittsburgh Pirates designated reliever Nick Burdi just weeks after the hard-throwing righthander underwent Tommy John on his right elbow for the second time.