The MLB qualifying offer is a tool afforded to front offices and general managers in negations with select players during free agency.
Teams annually have the option to extend the one-year contract to their own eligible free agents within five days of the completion of the World Series. Those who receive a qualifying offer must make a decision to accept or decline the deal within 10 days.
Players who changed teams during the preceding season are not eligible to be tendered a qualifying offer, and those who were previously extended one at any pint in their career are ineligible as well.
The qualifying offer was first incorporated with MLB free agency in 2012 and remained part of the collective bargaining agreement that was agreed to by the league and Players Association for the 2022-2026 seasons.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the MLB qualifying offer value for the 2026 season is expected to be around $22 million:
The Post has learned that the qualifying offer for the 2026 season will be roughly $22 million.
The exact value for the 2026 qualifying offer will not be set until October. That figure is calculated by averaging the salaries of the 125 highest-paid players in the league.
The qualifying offer for the 2024 season was valued at $21.05 million.
How is the MLB qualifying offer is used by GMs?
There are several reasons MLB general managers often hesitate to offer large contracts to their own impending free agents, and that’s where the qualifying offer comes in.
If an organization doesn’t believe it will be able to re-sign a player, tendering a qualifying offer ensures it will recoup some value with draft pick compensation in the following year’s MLB Draft.
The qualifying offer can also be useful when a team wants to re-sign a free agent, even if the player doesn’t end up accepting it. Depending on the caliber of the player, receiving a qualifying offer can severely limit their market if other teams are unwilling to surrender a draft pick to sign them.
But some players are so talented that the threat of losing a pick doesn’t deter teams at all, like the Los Angeles Dodgers when they signed Shohei Ohtani prior to the 2024 season.
Dodgers qualifying offer decisions
The Dodgers don’t have any logical candidates to extend a qualifying offer to this winter. Teoscar Hernández was the only Dodgers player to receive one last offseason, which he declined before ultimately re-signing with the team on a multi-year contract.
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