The Dodgers are not extending $20.325MM qualifying offers to J.D. Martinez or Clayton Kershaw, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.
Martinez, now 36, signed a one-year, $10MM deal with the Dodgers for 2023. He then had his best season in years, hitting 33 home runs and producing a line of .271/.321/.572. His 135 wRC+ indicated he was 35% better than the league average hitter.
A strong argument could have been made for Martinez to receive the QO in a vacuum, but what likely worked against him is the fact that he’s essentially a designated hitter only. The Dodgers are considered to be one of the top landing spots for Shohei Ohtani, who will be a designated hitter only in 2024 and will need significant time in that slot even if he returns to pitching in 2025. If the Dodgers extended the QO to Martinez, he may have accepted since it’s more than twice the salary he just made in 2023. Having both him and Ohtani on the same roster would be a particularly awkward fit since he has only played 12 innings in the field over the past two seasons combined.
As for Kershaw, the Dodgers have courteously decided not to give him a QO in each of the past two offseasons. Since he was reportedly deciding between returning to the Dodgers, joining his hometown Rangers or retiring, the club neglected to give him the QO so that he could take his time to make such a decision. This winter, there’s even more uncertainty since the southpaw underwent shoulder surgery and has an uncertain timeline for a return to action.
In both cases, the lack of QO helps the player in free agency since receiving a QO has a negative effect on a player’s earning power. Being saddled with draft pick forfeiture will cause some clubs to lower how much they are willing to spend on a given player while some other will steer clear of such players completely. By avoiding the QO, they can each can avoid any such worries.
DBACKS!!! I am begging you!
I’d have QO’d both
Making room for Ohtani and Kershaw could accept a deal for less than the prorated Q.O. amount when he’s ready to return (to the Dodgers).
Neither would have accepted. No reason not to extend the QO.
Martinez would’ve, in a heartbeat. 20+ mill for a DH? Dodgers signed him for 10 last winter.
YankeesBleacherCreature: I doubt JD or Kershaw would’ve accepted a QO, so why extend one? JD is going to sign somewhere for a lot o
more money. Kershaw will probably sign with Texas where he will promptly tear his UCL and spend next summer chatting with deGrom in the training room.
A 35 year old DH, that is unplayable in the field with a QO attached to him just isn’t going to have the market that you think it would. Somebody might give him two years, but I bet it’s probably close, if not under the 20 million he would’ve made with the QO. And he’ll only get that because there is no QO attached. He was worth 1.9 bWAR last season. One WAR is worth about 5 mill, so the Dodgers barely got what they paid for with him last season, even with the 33 bombs and 100+ ribeyes.
Rangers won’t consider Kershaw and an arm that has many many miles attached to it. They will be looking for an upgrade in their relief corps.
JD not receiving one makes sense. If you’re going all in for Ohtani, you just can’t afford the possibility that JD accepts and yours stuck with two true DH’s next year.
Cam: Unless you use one against lefties and the other against righties, although I doubt that will happen because Ohtani can hit anyone.
No team that plans to contend will have two dedicated DHs for platooning.
Padres tried in 23. Lol
I’m praying we don’t resign Kershaw. Always been a fan but he’s legit the Peyton manning of baseball.
So one of the best players to ever be in the league? I get that he’s older now and has wear and tear, but he’s still incredibly effective.
It’s easy to compare players to former versions of themselves, but I think that’s doing a disservice to what they’re still contributing. It’s pretty darn impressive to have 2,700+ MLB innings in that arm and still be churning out a 2.46 ERA (yes, yes, I know ERA isn’t everything).
I need people to understand regular seasons performances are meaningless to me.
I want the Nathan Eovaldis, Chris Taylor. kike Hernandez’s. Those guys have pedestrian regular season numbers
And don’t cower out in the biggest games
So you’d rather have Roberto Perez because he hit .220/.333/.441 with a .774 OPS in 71 playoff plate appearances than Buster Posey who had a .252/.321/.345 slash line and .667 OPS in the playoffs?
Or, you’d want the Bobby Kielty and his .200/.294/.400 slash line in 17 playoff PAs over Mike Trout and his .083/.267/.333 slash line in 15 playoff PAs?
That just seems silly to say regular season performances are meaningless.
I’d rather have the players I just named. Sub 3 ERA PLAYOFF GUYS.
Seager absolutely tore it up THOSE are the dudes I’m talking about.
I don’t mind role players batting .260 so much as they get big hits. In the PLAYOFFS
SB
Still on this arrogant idea that you can read players’ minds?
Kike being called pedestrian is a complement when we Red Sox fans were forced to watch him lead the AL in errors for five months. Sending him the the Dodgers probably saved him from claiming the title of worst AL Shortstop in modern history.
Calling him Peyton Manning is not the insult you think it is
If you’re a casual fan sure Clayton and Peyton are fun to watch. If you’re somewhat of a diehard fan you want to win when it matters
Watch out diehard fan in the house! Both regular season studs. Both champions who played well in their wins. What a disrespectful turd. Muted
It’s the truth. Sounds like your standards are incredibly low.
Time for JDM to return to the Tigers as Cabrera’s replacement!
That would bring some excitement..
Based upon the numbers he’s still putting up offensively, he’s worth every penny of a 3-year deal even at 36
Remember JD is only good every other year since 2019.
Yeah d backs need this guy
The Dodgers should pump the brakes on this myopic Ohtani quest. They really want 3/5 of their 2025+ rotation to have had multiple TJ surgeries? Success rate is pretty low after 2
They don’t need him to fill the rotation, just the seats…and hit some dingers.
They also might be making moves for multiple starters like yamamoto, snell and even gray as backups to ohtani. This just gives them financial flexibility at a position I can guarantee Friedman doesn’t like dedicating a single roster spot to for a specialized role
Mets 2 years $36 million
I didn’t realize the Dodgers neglected to offer a QO to Kershaw. Seemed like they did it deliberately.
Keep him in the NL. Hate to see him show up regularly at Fenway and beat the crap out of the Green Monster.
Probably would be a good idea for the World Series champs – Rangers to pick up J.D. Martinez or Brantley from the Astros to solidify their bench. Jankowicz, Hedges, and Smith lacked batting prowess.