Among the options-related deadlines, today is also the deadline for teams to make their $17.9 million one-year qualifying offers to outgoing free agents. Doing so ensures the team will get a little draft-pick compensation if the free agent ultimately departs for another team.
The Cubs did not have any realistic qualifying offer candidates this year (Justin Wilson probably would have been the closest, but that wasn’t happening), so there’s nothing doing there. Also, guys who were traded midseason like Manny Machado, Andrew McCutchen, and Nathan Eovaldi can’t get them. Also, guys like D.J. LeMahieu, Marwin Gonzalez, and Charlie Morton were close calls, but did not receive qualifying offers.
Around the league, though, the following free agents received qualifying offers:
Those guys will have 10 days to accept or reject the one-year offer. If rejected, they are tied to draft pick compensation, meaning they might cost their next signing team a little extra when they’re signed.