The morning after the Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988, the team had seven players officially become free agents.
As of last Wednesday, Pedro Baez, Pedro Baez, Kiké Hernandez, Jake McGee, Joc Pederson, Justin Turner, Blake Treinen and Alex Wood were no longer being under contract with the team. Baez, Hernandez and Pederson became free agents for the first time in their respective careers.
The free agency class added Jimmy Nelson when the Dodgers declined their 2021 club option and instead paid a buyout that reportedly was worth $500,000. Through 2 p.m. PT Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers had the option to extend a qualifying offer to eligible (all but McGee) free agents.
However, they declined to do so, which was not much of a surprise. According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, only six players across the sport were extended the one-year, $18.9 million offer:
All six are now official, per source. https://t.co/uefc82RigZ
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 1, 2020
From the Dodgers’ perspective, only Pederson appeared to be any sort of remote candidate to be extended the qualifying offer. Turner would have been an easy choice but he was extended a qualifying offer in 2016 and changes to the system forbid a player from receiving it more than once.
The six players who were extended the one-year pact have until Nov. 11 to decide on accepting or rejecting it.
How MLB qualifying offer works
For a team that received revenue sharing the prior season and signs a player who was extended a qualifying offer, they would be required to forfeit their third-highest draft pick. Signing a second such free agent means forfeiting a fourth-highest pick, and a third free agent would cost giving up a fifth-highest selection.
A team that was not part of revenue sharing and also did not pay luxury tax would give up their second-highest draft pick and $500,000 of international bonus pool money. Teams signing additional free agents that declined a qualifying offer amounts to losing its third-highest pick and so forth.
Teams that crossed the luxury tax threshold and sign a qualifying offer free agent lose their second- and fifth-highest picks in the Draft and $1 million from their international bonus pool. Signing a second would strip such a team of their third- and sixth-highest draft picks along with another $1 million in international money.
For a team that loses a player after the qualifying offer was rejected, they will receive a draft pick after competitive balance round B if they did not receive revenue sharing or if the free agent signed a contract less than $50 million.
Teams are awarded a draft pick after the first round if the qualifying offer free agent joins a team that received revenue sharing and the deal exceeds $50 million in value. Lastly, the team losing the free agent can receive a pick after the fourth round if the signing club paid the luxury tax the previous season.
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