All nine players decline qualifying offers – MLB Update
According to a leading sports website, all the nine players heading towards free agency, who were offered the qualifying contracts on Monday, officially declined the offers with eight of them declared free agents after Friday’s deadline.
Hiroki Kuroda, Rafael Soriano and Nick Swisher of New York Yankees, B.J. Upton of Tampa Bay Rays, Adam Laroche of the Washington Nationals, Kyle Lohse of the St. Louis Cardinals, Michael Bourn of the Atlanta Braves and Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers
all declined offers from their old clubs. It will be interesting to see what the open market now has to offer to these players, the source further added.
According to the new free agency rules introduced by the Major League Baseball, players should be offered a contract worth at least the average of top 125 player salaries from 2012. The exact figure comes out to be $13.3 million for the teams to be eligible
for one of the sandwich picks.
"This decision doesn't preclude us from continuing our dialogue with B.J.," Rays’ executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in an e-mail. "All it does is ensure that we receive something of value if B.J. signs elsewhere."
"It was a formality for us," Rangers’ general manager Jon Daniels said of the qualifying offer. "Josh wasn't taking a one-year paycut.”
"We know all the possible ways it can play. Josh has intimated that we'd get an option. We'd talk before he does something. I'd expect we'll talk before he does something," Daniels further added.
Under the old free agency system, the teams had the luxury to decide whether or not to offer their free agents contracts. Therefore, if a player declined the offer, teams will become eligible for a bonus pick in the following year’s First Year Player Draft.
Red Sox’s Ortiz originally declined the offer made by the club. However, he signed for a two-year $26 million contract on Monday. The Red Sox would have been eligible for a pick in the first competitive balance lottery round but they re-signed Ortiz for
the next season, as they will not receive that pick.
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