On Monday's episode of "Nothing Personal with David Samson," the podcast host provided his thoughts after 14 MLB players received the qualifying offer over the weekend.
A qualifying offer is a one-year deal can be extended to a player who is set to leave a team as a free agent and has six or more years of service in the big leagues. If they've never been offered a qualifying offer before, then the team may offer a qualifying offer to that player. The qualifying offer is done mathematically, based on average salary and this year it was $18.4 million, down from $18.9 million last year. Players hav 10 days to accept or reject the qualifying offer. If the player rejects the offer and then they go on to sign a multi-year deal with another team, the team who lost them gets another draft pick.
The benefit is if you don't sign that player you can get rewarded with a draft pick.
The detriment, Samson says, can be that a player on the fence of getting a multi-year deal decides to take the qualifying offer instead of testing out free agency, so now the team is paying more than it thinks the player is worth, because the team was really going after the draft pick.
The new collective bargaining agreement may change the qualifying offer rules, but this year will be grandfathered in, Samson says.
Samson went on to explain that the Astros gave Justin Verlander, who is 38 years old and coming off Tommy John, a qualifying offer, which the podcast host says is a mistake. He explains that Verlander is "no spring chicken" and will not be the pitcher he was before after his injury.
