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SP Hyun-Jin Ryu is expected to accept the Dodgers' qualifying offer, but C Yasmani Grandal will not, source confirms. Dodgers will look for a new, short-term catcher to buy time before their promising prospects are ready. And they will have a ton of starting pitching coming backComment -
Man I thought andujar would win the Roy.Comment -
The seven free agents who were issued qualifying offers by their former teams must decide by 4pm CT today whether or not to accept. You can get the full rundown of how the qualifying offer system works here, but in brief — if a player takes the offer, they will return to their team on a one-year, $17.9MM contract for the 2019 season and can never again be issued a QO in any future trips to the free agent market. If a player rejects the offer, their former team will receive a compensatory draft pick should another club sign the player. (The signing team will also have to give up at least one draft pick and potentially some funds from their international signing bonus pool.)
Most free agents reject the QO in search of a richer, more long-term contract, and this is expected to be the case for most (though not all) of this year’s qualifying offer class. The MLB Player’s Association has now announced all of these decisions, so they’re all official:
- A.J. Pollock will enter free agency after turning down the Diamondbacks’ qualifying offer, tweets Jon Heyman of Fancred. He’ll be the top center fielder available and should draw interest from a fair number of teams, though his market demand is not yet clear.
- Bryce Harper declined the Nationals’ qualifying offer, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). That’s utterly unsurprising, as the superstar is lining up nine-figure offers as we speak.
- Craig Kimbrel is heading to the market rather than taking the one-year pact to stay with the Red Sox, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com was among those to tweet. The veteran closer is expected to command a much larger and lengthier contract in free agency.
- Patrick Corbin won’t be accepting the Diamondbacks’ qualifying offer, as per Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman (Twitter link). No surprises with this decision, as Corbin is set to receive the biggest contract of any free agent pitcher this winter.
- Yasmani Grandal won’t accept the Dodgers’ qualifying offer, ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez (via Twitter). Even in the wake of another mediocre postseason performance, there was little doubt Grandal would turn down the QO, as he projects to earn a strong contract as the best catcher in the free agent market.
- Dallas Keuchel has rejected the Astros’ qualifying offer, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link). The ground-ball specialist and 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner will hit the open market, and it remains to be seen if a return to Houston could be in the cards. The Astros could also lose Charlie Morton in free agency, and Lance McCullers Jr. will miss all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
- Hyun-Jin Ryu has accepted the Dodgers’ qualifying offer, as we explored in detail earlier today. Ryu becomes the sixth player to ever accept a QO, out of the 80 free agents who have been offered the deal over the last seven offseasons.
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Qualifying offers are such a formality.Comment -
Ohtani was the right choice for ROYComment -
Shohei Ohtani, named AL Rookie of the Year, joined Babe Ruth as the only player in major league history to throw 50 innings and hit at least 20 home runs in the same season. Ruth had a 2.97 ERA and a 1.114 OPS in 1919. Ohtani had a 3.31 ERA and a .925 OPS in 2018. I don't think any of us have truly wrapped our heads around how amazing Ohtani was — while injured.Comment -
Shohei Ohtani won't pitch until 2020, but he will hit full time in 2019, and it'll be fun to see what he can do with a full season of that. He had a .649 slugging percentage over the final two months, second-highest in the majors. As Mike Trout said in a statement, "The best is yet to come."Comment -
Ohtani deserved the ROY. Amazing what he did.[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
Hope he can stay healthy doing both pitching and hitting this next yearComment -
I don't know what team would pay Yasmani Grandal a big money contract after a poor postseason and world series.Comment -
Ohtani needs to ball out next year and stay healthy.Comment -
about 90 days until pitchers and catchers report!!!Comment -
It should be noted that many of the borderline non-tender candidates below will be traded this month rather than simply cut loose. Other borderline candidates may be presented with an offer that is notably lower than their projections and could accept the “take it or leave it” ultimatum rather than being non-tendered.
For a full list of each team’s arb-eligible players, you can check out Matt Swartz’s team-by-team arbitration salary projections.
Position Players
Ehire Adrianza (Twins, $1.8MM)
Aaron Altherr (Phillies, $1.6MM)
Tim Beckham (Orioles, $4.3MM)
Justin Bour(Phillies, $5.2MM)
Cheslor Cuthbert(Royals, $1.1MM)
Travis d’Arnaud(Mets, $3.7MM)
Delino DeShields Jr.(Rangers, $1.9MM)
Adam Duvall(Braves, $3.1MM)
Wilmer Flores(Mets, $4.7MM)
Avisail Garcia(White Sox, $8.0MM)
Leury Garcia(White Sox, $1.9MM)
Greg Garcia(Padres, $900K)
Robbie Grossman(Twins, $4.0MM)
Gorkys Hernandez(Giants, $1.6MM)
Chris Herrmann(Astros, $1.5MM)
Caleb Joseph(Orioles, $1.7MM)
Erik Kratz (Brewers, $1.7MM)
Sandy Leon(Red Sox, $2.3MM)
Jake Marisnick(Astros, $2.4MM)
James McCann(Tigers, $3.5MM)
John Ryan Murphy(Diamondbacks, $1.1MM)
Chris Owings(Diamondbacks, $3.6MM)
Hernan Perez(Brewers, $2.7MM)
Josh Phegley(Athletics, $1.2MM)
Miguel Rojas(Marlins, $2.6MM)
Addison Russell(Cubs, $4.3MM)
Tyler Saladino(Brewers, $1.0MM)
Jonathan Schoop(Brewers, $10.1MM)
Yangervis Solarte(Blue Jays, $5.9MM)
Cory Spangenberg(Padres, $2.3MM)
Devon Travis(Blue Jays, $2.4MM)
Tony Wolters(Rockies, $1.1MM)
Pitchers
Matt Andriese(Diamondbacks, $1.1MM)
Chad Bettis(Rockies, $3.2M)
Eddie Butler(Rangers, $900K)
Brian Flynn(Royals, $1.0MM)
Sam Freeman(Braves, $1.5M)
Luis Garcia(Phillies, $1.7MM)
Yimi Garcia(Dodgers, $900K)
Jesse Hahn(Royals, $1.7MM)
Tom Koehler(Dodgers, $2.0MM)
Shelby Miller (Diamondbacks, $4.9MM)
Bryan Mitchell(Padres, $1.2MM)
Neil Ramirez(Indians, $1.3MM)
Tanner Roark(Nationals, $9.8MM)
Zac Rosscup(Dodgers, $800K)
Chris Rusin(Rockies, $1.7MM)
Chasen Shreve(Cardinals, $1.2MM)
Sammy Solis(Nationals, $900K)
Tyler Thornburg(Red Sox, $2.3MM)
Jonny Venters(Braves, $1.5M)Comment -
Snell and deGrom with the Cy Youngs.[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
dallas kuechel turned down astros 1 year qualifying offer, which team is going to pay big money to dallas hmmComment -
Both Snell and DeGrom with unreal years.Comment -
rays still got snell for 4 more years i'm sure they will try to offer him a terrible long term contract like they did to chris archer signed a 6 year / $25,500,000Comment -
Manny Machado’s now-infamous “Johnny Hustle” comments and the incident in which appeared to deliberately clip Jesus Aguilar’s foot on a play at first base have made him more of a lightning rod than ever, and there’ll be no shortage of speculation on the degree to which he damaged his free-agent stock (if at all) as the offseason wears on. Asked about Machado’s comments, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said it would be “essential” for GM Brian Cashman to have a heart-to-heart with the 26-year-old as part of any legitimate pursuit (link via USA Today’s Bob Nightengale).
Steinbrenner emphasized that regardless of the price tag attached to a player, such comments are “clearly troubling” and “ain’t going to sell where we play baseball.” He also indicated that makeup is crucial when identifying targets and, without specifying names, suggested that some players have already been ruled out by the Yankees because the organization doesn’t feel they’d handle playing in New York well. Machado, Nightengale notes, is not one of that bunch. The YES Network’s Michael Kay agrees with that notion, as he said on-air today that he gets a sense the Yankees are “in on Machado in a serious way” (Twitter link).
Some more Machado chatter in the early stages of free agency…
- Drama aside, Machado is still an ideal target for the Phillies, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia opines. Salisbury reports that Phillies officials do indeed have some concerns about Machado’s makeup, though he rightly notes that Machado is largely the same player/person he’s always been — even if those ill-timed comments came while playing on the biggest possible stage. Concerns notwithstanding, the Phils are still very much open to pursuing Machado. Salisbury quotes general manager Matt Klentak from last week’s GM Meetings: “If you’re trying to find the young free agent who’s good at everything and a prince in the clubhouse, you’re going to be looking for a long time.”
- The Giants may be an oft-cited speculative landing spot for Bryce Harper, but Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area writes that San Francisco is completely “out” on Machado for more than just financial considerations. Pavlovic notes that it’s true there’s no immediately apparent spot for Machado in San Francisco anyway, though he reports that some throughout the game believe new president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi will look for a way to move the remainder of Evan Longoria’s contract this winter. Even if that happens, though, Machado would not emerge as an option for the Giants, according to Pavlovic.
- Meanwhile, NBC’s Vinnie Duber takes a look what the oft-suggested fit between the White Sox and Machado. While the Sox undoubtedly have the long-term payroll capacity and an opening at third base, Machado’s preference is to play shortstop, where Tim Anderson made positive strides in 2018 after being signed as a long-term option there. Duber also notes that Machado’s “Johnny Hustle” comments wouldn’t sit well with recently extended manager Rick Renteria, who has previously benched multiple players for failure to adhere to fundamentals such as running out grounders and pop-ups. GM Rick Hahn recently praised the “culture of accountability” that Renteria has created (link via Duber), adding that it’s important for the organization that its players buy into said culture.
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Machado will tell teams he'll be Manny Hustle to get that fat contract.Comment -
I see Harper as a Padres. Lol. Jk.Comment -
With DeGrom of The Mets and Snell of The Rays both winning their respective Cy Young’s.. it marks the first time since 2012 that both Cy Young winners came from non playoff teams. The winners that year? R.A.Dickey of The Mets..and David Price of the RaysComment
