With the Astros’ World Series victory and championship parade behind us, the offseason feels even more official. On Monday, it will take one more step toward truly feeling like it’s here, too, as the deadline to submit qualifying offers to free agents is at 5 p.m. ET.
Monday is the first of two qualifying offer deadlines
Monday’s Say Hey, Baseball is all about the next step in the offseason and free agency.
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
This is the first of two qualifying offer deadlines, the second coming 10 days from now: That’s the final day for any free agent who received a qualifying offer to accept or reject it.
Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. Subscribe to our daily MLB newsletter and let us do the heavy lifting for you each morning to find the things you need to see.
Qualifying offers are the same in principle under this new collective bargaining agreement. A free agent who was with his previous team for the entirety of the season can be submitted a qualifying offer, which will bring back some kind of draft pick and will cost the team signing them a pick. That’s just the basics, though: The details are far different than they used to be, in terms of which teams get picks and what picks and which picks can be lost.
The idea was to move the system closer to true free agency, where players are no longer burdened by their previous teams in their search for a new job. MLB isn’t quite there yet, but free agency is one of the few areas where the MLB Players Association has been able to win victories for its members of late.
We’ll have to see if that theory plays out in the real world, since this is the first offseason using the new qualifying offer rules, but it’s hard to imagine things will be worse off for the non-elite players who receive qualifying offers than they used to be.
- Bless You Boys has a feature up on how MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement harms the Tigers more than any other team in the game. While signed last offseason, it came into play too late to be used then, so this is the first winter where we’ll see these negatives play out for Detroit.
- The Rays didn’t bother waiting until 5 p.m. to make a decision on Alex Cobb: They’ve already extended a qualifying offer to their longtime starting pitcher.
- By the way, once that qualifying offer deadline passes at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, free agency officially begins, as players can sign with new teams.
- Today is just one of many important dates this offseason. Don’t worry, we’ve collected the rest of them for your perusal.
- Were these the seven days that changed Blue Jays’ history?
- The Cardinals could use a bat, but Viva El Birdos warns that power hitters face a steeper aging curve.
- The Dodgers congratulated the Astros’ World Series victory with a full-page ad and please, please do not use the word “classy” to describe it. “Classy” is overused to the point of being meaningless, and we need to figure out new ways to describe an action like this.
- The Dodgers declined Andre Ethier’s 2018 option, buying him out of his deal instead, so he’s officially a free agent.
- The Giants will have four more years of Johnny Cueto, as he decided against opting out of his deal.
- If you’re already thinking about 2018, early ZiPS projections are out. If you’re a Brewers’ fan, they have some good news.
See More:
