The Rockies announced that they have extended a one-year, $15.3MM qualifying offer to Michael Cuddyer.
Needless to say, this move comes as a bit of a surprise. The 35-year-old Cuddyer will turn 36 next March and played in just 49 games this season. While his production over the past two seasons has been unquestionably outstanding when healthy — he’s batted .331/.385/.543 and captured the 2013 NL Batting Title — Cuddyer was not seen as a candidate for a QO due to his injuries and age.
No player has ever accepted a qualifying offer, but Cuddyer strikes me as a candidate to be the first to do so. Should he reject, teams will have to forfeit their top unprotected draft pick in order to sign Cuddyer. Given his inability to stay on the field last year and his defensive question marks, that may be a lot for a team to stomach. It’s also worth pointing out that the $15.3MM sum would represent nearly half of the total guarantee on Cuddyer’s previous three-year, $31.5MM contract, meaning he’d be getting a substantial raise in terms of AAV. One possibility is that the Rockies are using the qualifying offer as leverage with the hope of getting Cuddyer to agree to a more affordable two-year extension.
Cuddyer and other players who have received the QO can be followed using MLBTR’s Free Agent Tracker.
well, there goes one OF option for the Mets
I was just about to say the same thing about the Cardinals.
Absolutely; the Mets won’t top this money, and most likely no one will, so Cuddyer likely stays with Colorado. Cuddyer brings risk of injury and both offensive and defensive decline, and the Mets should not give up a pick for him.
I think it’s unlikely, but possible, that Cuddyer says no. The possibility is that, with the hitting FA this offseason being so incredibly poor, Cuddyer imagines that he can get two years guaranteed at $10m per or more. At his age, there’s always the possibility of a complete collapse, so the multi-year deal would be better. Of course that’s still not the most likely outcome.
Think he can get 2 year/$10MM per year with the draft choice hanging over his head? That’s about what he was being projected at without a QO. I think he’s going to have to accept it. He might not get $15MM for two years.
I’d rather take the QO than a 2/20 contract. He’d have to play pretty awful in 2015 not to be able to get a $5 million deal for 2016.
Forget the money, its the draft pick compensation the Mets won’t give up.
Definitely not going to mets anymore. Mets should just sign Hanley, trade Murphy for Allen Craig.
Dont hang your head over it
Look everyone! Its the first guy ever to accept a QO.
Unless Liriano accepts it first. Both could definitely be the guys to take the QO this offseason. And I am not ruling out David Robertson taking the QO yet.
David Robertson isn’t going to accept it
That’s what they said about Morales and Drew last season. Perhaps Cuddyer will learn from their mistakes, but I’m betting his agent will still try and find a multi year deal.
Drew and Morales were younger and coming off decent seasons. Cuddyer was probably not going to get a multi-year deal without a pick attached to him. There is no reason for him not to accept unless he really doesn’t like playing for the Rockies.
I didn’t think Morales or Drew was going to accept. Mets, Yankees, RedSox, Marlins and the Reds needed a shortstop with more then a handful of teams needed a DH/1B type like Morales. I don’t see that need for a 36 1B/DH who could barely play the OF and has injury problems.
Teams are going QO crazy this year. Someone is going to accept it this year.
I think it may be Cuddyer. I don’t think he will get more than the 15.3 Million
I didn’t see him getting 15M on a 2 year deal..
I think he could that deal somewhere, now that I think more about it. Maybe a team like the Mets could give him that because 7.5M in AAV isn’t that bad of a contract for a contending team to take on should they want to trade him somewhere.
When did the Mets become contenders?
I was referring to the Mets signing him to a 2 yr deal worth 15M (total) and then if they (the Mets) wanted to a trade him, that contract is not atrocious where he would be untradeable for a contender to take on.
With 2 more bats (SS, LF) and another reliever, watch out. They got a scary looking rotation. Harvey-Wheeler-Niese-Colon-syndergaard
First guy to accept a QO, nailed on, with large nails and a massive hammer.
It was a real stretch. Was he even going to top $10MM as it is?
I really cant see it.
I can only assume the Rox must really want to keep him because surely they wouldnt play the “lets QO him and hope he knocks back so we get a pick” game?
They are willing to pay big bucks for his leadership. Something the Rockies lack big time.
Leadership is great of course, but it aint worth millions in an overpay for an older guy with genuine health concerns, and $15m is a massive overpay, by at least $5m i would suggest, if he takes it.
Totally agree. This just shows that the owner is still calling the shots. He has already gone on the record by saying he wants Cuddyer back. $15.3 m should do it.
Liriano as well. That was also a shocker.
It could be a pretty good deal for the Rockies. If he accepts it and stays healthy, they have a good in season trade chip. If he declines it then they get a pick if he signs with another team. The downside is can he stay healthy or will a team sign him before the deadline.
There is some upside to it, I would just think if they have that much room in their budget, there could be better ways to spend it.
Rockies spent $93 M on payroll this past year – and are already committed to $65 M next year. That’s not including their arbitration eligible guys (projected $20 M) and major league minimum guys (projected $5 M). That would bump them up to $90 M. In signing Cuddyer with the QO, they’d most likely swap out a MLB min guy for Cuddyer – nearly a $15 M difference. Putting their new total at $105 M (and that’s with no other offseason signings – barring a trade).
I haven’t made up my mind on QO’s yet. It gives compensation to a team that a player is trying to escape from. Poor old Cuddyer just wants a ring. Kendrys Morales would rather grow old than play for Seattle, but then he got traded there. I don’t think I like QO’s.
Are we sure that Dan O’Dowd isn’t still the GM? This makes no sense. They could have offered him 11-12M for a one year deal, and he most likely would have jumped at it.
That should tell you that Dan O’Dowd wasn’t the biggest problem. The owner Mr. Monfort was, and is, the problem in Colorado.
I thought he’d be a good fit for the Mets at a decent price. 15.3 is not that price. Cash that check right now Mr. Cuddyer. Don’t look back.
Even if he declines, the Mets won’t sign him because he will cost a pick + will be more expensive than Granderson on AAV.
Not necessarily, could still sign 2/20. More likely 2/18 with the pick
Cuddyer is a really good player, don’t get me wrong. But i think 15.3 million is a bit much for him
The only thing weirder than both Cuddyer and Liriano getting qualifying offers would be if they both would accept.. and then were traded for one another.
Wow. Very surprising. Does this mean CarGo is on the trading block?
Most likely. Along with Stubbs/Dickerson/Blackmon/Barnes. Maybe even Morneau.
And we have our first ever acceptee of the QO
They said that about Morales last year as well.
I hope all these teams get burned with these crazy QO’s on mediocre players and they all accept them. Possibly having to pay over 15mil for Liriano, Cuddyer and Santana is crazy to try and get the sandwich pick. Looks like the mets are going to have to look at tomas because I really think you can get him for around for 5/75 when its all said and done.
I sort of agree as the Pirates and Rockies just wrecked the market for Cuddyer and Liriano unless they perhaps sign wit team’s with protected first rounders. I think Liriano locks onto a team with a top ten draft pick but for Chester the writing is on the wall. The Rockies must want him back at that which is just insane.
wow he’s got to accept that, he’ll have no market otherwise
Looks like I’m updating my contest prediction for Mikey.
I think that he will most likely accept the QO but there is a scenario that I have in mind where he denies it, that scenario would be if he wants a multi year deal and to get security at a lower AAV then the QO because of his injury history and maybe just wanting security outside of a 1 year deal, don’t get me wrong though I feel declining it would be a mistake and he would have to wait quite awhile to get a deal done if he goes down that path.
It would be foolish of him to decline
I think teams are realizing that players accepting QO’s, while not ideal in many cases, isn’t the end of the world. It’s only one year, and it’s almost impossible to sign a really bad one year deal.
Or, the assumption is that no one ever has accepted the QO, so no one is going to accept the QO, therefore go ahead and make an offer hoping that history repeats and the team will get the draft pick.
See ChrisYoung…
15.3 Million down the drain to Michael Cuddyer?
The Rockies may have just made a terrible mistake.
Hmmmm.. Not sure why the Rockies did this. I mean, a guy in Cuddyers shoes would be foolish not to accept this. Maybe the Rocks have talked with Cuddyer and they know he won’t accept it so they can get the compensation pick.. Who knows, but if he does agree to the 15.3 million, it is going to be quite the overpay for Colorado.
Could the Rockies have a trade in place with one of their outfielders? Other than that scenario, this doesn’t make sense. I believe Cuddyer accepts the offer. Maybe CarGo to White Sox, Padres or Rangers.
I’ve read a rumor somewhere that said CarGo was the player in the three team deal that fell through for the Sox at the deadline so it wouldn’t be too crazy
I always thought that July 31st non trade involved either CarGo or Jason Castro.
I’d love if they got CarGo to DH and signed someone like Rasmus to play left on a one year deal. That way when Eaton gets hurt, you wouldn’t have to worry about Danks getting everyday at bats hitting lead off for any stretch of time when Eaton gets hurt.
That would be nice, although I do not see Rasmus jumping on a one year deal. Ichiro? That’s who I would want for 100-120 games in right field. Avi and CarGo would alternate between left and dh.
There’s got to more to this than just an overspend.
File this under “things I didn’t expect to read today.”
As a Rockies fan, i can just laugh… What a joke… Cuddyer is a pretty good player, but $15.3 million is way too much…
As a Met fan I am happy about this. The right move is making a splash via trade. Cuddyer is a nice player if the Mets had a stacked lineup already and he was a complimentary piece/veteran presence, but not for this team. Alex Gordon. Cespedes, CarGo, Joey Bats..time to make a move, Sandy.
The only time anybody should ever see the words “Michael Cuddye offered 1 year $15.3 million deal” is on April Fools day.
I’ll be shocked if Michael Cuddyer doesn’t accept it. I thought the Rockies overpaid him the last time with an AAV of 10.5 especially since the Twins I think were the only other team that offered him anything and they went 3 yrs at 24-26 million
I can’t believe it. I think we’re actually going to see someone pick up their QO this year. Wow.
I think the real outcome will be the Rockies did wreck the market for Cuddyer so they sign him to a 2 or 3 year deal with more guarateed money.
Wait a tic, didn’t K-Rod accept the Brewers’ qualifying offer in the ’11-’12 offseason?