NEWSLETTER
At today’s deadline for accepting or rejecting Qualifying Offers, only two players – old friend Joc Pederson from the Giants, and lefty Martin Perez from the Rangers – accepted the offer.
As expected and earlier-reported, Willson Contreras today rejected the Cubs’ one-year, $19.65 million Qualifying Offer. He will now be attached to draft pick compensation in free agency, but if and when he hopefully gets himself a nice free agent contract, the Cubs will in turn pick up a draft pick after the second round in 2023. The only way they wouldn’t get a pick is if he does not sign until after the draft. If that happens … oof … I’ll feel really bad for Contreras.
I would call Anthony Rizzo (Yankees) and Nathan Eovaldi (Red Sox) mild surprises, but they may yet be able to sign with their current team for more money. Then again, there were those Astros-Rizzo rumors last night … (UPDATE: Yup, Rizzo is re-signing with the Yankees.)
Tyler Anderson wound up signing with the Angels just under the wire of the QO deadline, which tells me he was deciding between the two, and gave the Angels a chance (i.e., you step up to this level and I’ll sign with you, otherwise I’m taking the QO):
So, that figures to be among the Angels big moves this offseason, given their payroll situation. It’s not a bad value contract for Anderson, even if you don’t buy his late-stage breakout in 2022. But giving up the pick for it. Don’t know about that.
More on that deal soon, because there are implications for the pitching market.
So, again, the acceptors were Pederson and Perez, and the full list of rejectors – who are now attached to draft pick compensation – are: Aaron Judge, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson, Jacob deGrom, Carlos Rodon, Brandon Nimmo, Willson Contreras, Chris Bassitt, and Nathan Eovaldi.
