With Zack Greinke opting out of the final three years and $71 million remaining on his contract, the Los Angeles Dodgers number of free agent players grew to four. Along with Greinke, the group includes Brett Anderson, Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins.
It’s been widely speculated Anderson and Kendrick would receive the one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer. Rollins’ time in Los Angeles likely ended with the 2015 season. According to ESPN’s Mark Saxon, the Dodgers will make qualifying offers to Anderson and Kendrick, and Greinke prior to Friday’s 2 p.m. PT deadline:
Source: #Dodgers will extend qualifying offers to Zack Greinke, Brett Anderson and Howie Kendrick.
— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) November 6, 2015
In the three years qualifying offers have been part of free agency, no player has ever accepted the one-year deal. That’s unlikely to end with Cy Young-hopeful Greinke, who is one of baseball’s biggest free agents this offseason.
Greinke went 19-3 with an MLB-best 1.66 ERA, 225 ERA+ and 0.84 WHIP. He struck out 200 batters and walked 40 in 222.2 innings of work. Kendrick hit .295/.336/.409 with nine home runs, 54 RBIS and a 109 wRC+ in 117 games.
Despite time missed in August and September due to a strained hamstring, Kendrick finished with a batting average above .290 for a third consecutive season. Anderson was signed to a one-year contract last December with the thought he’d help solidify the back end of the rotation.
However, due to season-ending injuries to Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu, Anderson took on a much larger role and became the team’s No. 3 starter. Anderson remained healthy and threw a career-high 180.1 innings.
After the Dodgers was eliminated from the postseason, all three players stated they would be open to returning with the club.
