What Is A Qualifying Offer In Baseball?

A qualifying offer is a one-year contract extension worth the average salary of the 125 highest-paid players in baseball. If a player rejects the qualifying offer and signs with another team, the team that loses the player receives draft-pick compensation.

Introduction

A qualifying offer is a one-year contract extension worth the average salary of the 125 highest-paid MLB players from the previous season. Qualifying offers can be made to any unrestricted free agent who was on his team’s roster for the entire previous season. Players have until November 10th to accept or decline a qualifying offer.

If a player accepts a qualifying offer, he is signed for an additional year at that salary and cannot become a free agent again until after the following season. If a player declines a qualifying offer and subsequently signs with another team, his old team receives draft pick compensation.

The current system was put in place before the 2012 season as part of the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association. Prior to that, Type A and Type B free agents could be offered arbitration by their former teams, but there was no such thing as a qualifying offer.

What is a Qualifying Offer?

A Qualifying Offer is a one-year contract extension a team can offer to a pending free agent in order to receive draft-pick compensation should the player sign elsewhere. The value of a Qualifying Offer is set at the average of the 125 highest-paid players in baseball. For the 2019-20 offseason, that number was $17.8 million.

How does it work?

A qualifying offer is a one-year contract extension worth the average of the top 125 salaries in MLB, or $17.9 million for the 2019 season. A player has 10 days to accept the offer, and if he declines it, he become a free agent.

In order to be extended a qualifying offer, a player must have spent the entire previous season with one team and cannot have already been extended a qualifying offer by that team in the past.

If a player accepts a qualifying offer, he signs a one-year contract with his former team for $17.9 million and becomes ineligible for free agency until after the following season.

If a player decline a qualifying offer, he becomes a free agent and can sign with any team, but his former team will receive draft-pick compensation if he signs elsewhere.

Who is eligible for a Qualifying Offer?

Only players who spent the entire previous season with a team and who are not yet free agents are eligible to receive a Qualifying Offer. This means that if a player is traded during the season, he is not eligible to receive a Qualifying Offer from his new team. Also, any player who declined a Qualifying Offer from his previous team or who was extended a Qualifying Offer but did not sign it is not eligible to receive a Qualifying Offer from any team.

What are the benefits of a Qualifying Offer?

A Qualifying Offer is a mechanism in baseball whereby a team can make a one-year contract offer to a pending free agent at the end of their contract. If the player refuses the offer and signs with another team, their new team must forfeit draft picks to the player’s former team. A Qualifying Offer must be worth the greater of $17.4 million or 120% of the player’s previous salary, whichever is greater.

The benefits of a Qualifying Offer are two-fold. First, it allows teams to potentially recoup draft picks if they lose a key free agent. Second, it gives the player’s former team an opportunity to match any other contract offers and keep the player.

What are the drawbacks of a Qualifying Offer?

The main drawback of a Qualifying Offer is that it is a one-year deal worth $17.4 million. This is a lot of money, but it is not life-changing money for most baseball players. It also does not give the player any long-term security, which can be important for some players. Additionally, if the player accepts the Qualifying Offer and then has a bad year, he will likely not be able to get as much money on the open market the following year.

Conclusion

In short, a qualifying offer is a tool that allows a team to keep a potential free agent by offering them a one-year contract worth the average salary of the 125 highest-paid players in baseball. If the player rejects the offer, they become a free agent and can sign with any team. However, if they accept the offer, they are effectively signing a one-year deal with their former team.