Marcell Ozuna

Third Base Notes: Donaldson, Braves, Bryant, Nats, Castro, Franco

By Mark Polishuk | December 12, 2019 at 3:30am CDT

Now that Anthony Rendon has signed with the Angels, Josh Donaldson is both the top third baseman remaining on the open market and quite possibly the top free agent still available at any position. There was already enough interest in Donaldson that he was reportedly looking more and more likely to receive a four-year commitment, which is good news for a player who “is seeking the largest possible guarantee” in his next contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes (subscription required).

The star third baseman just turned 34 this week and, since his injury-plagued 2018 season already cost him his first chance at a big multi-year free agent deal last winter, it isn’t surprising that Donaldson wants to max out his payday now that he is coming off an outstanding 2019 campaign. Rosenthal hears that “all things being equal, Donaldson’s preference is to return to the Braves,” though if it comes down to a pure bidding war, Atlanta doesn’t seem to have the available payroll to outspend Donaldson suitors like the Dodgers, Rangers, Twins, or Nationals.

The Braves have already spread some significant cash around this winter, adding free agents Cole Hamels, Will Smith, and Travis d’Arnaud while re-signing Chris Martin, Nick Markakis, Tyler Flowers, and Darren O’Day. As per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, Atlanta is set to spend just under $142.2MM on player salaries next season, which would be the largest payroll in franchise history. $142.2MM is a modest number compared to what most contending teams spend, though since there has long been speculation about how much money the Liberty Media ownership group would be willing to allocate to payroll, adding another major contract to the books (Donaldson’s next deal could well be in the area of $25MM in average annual value) might not be feasible, unless other salaries were cut loose.

If Atlanta misses out on Donaldson, they might need to get creative in adding another big bat to their lineup. Reports from earlier this week suggested that the Braves could look to Marcell Ozuna, though Rosenthal notes that “they currently have only limited interest” in Ozuna’s services. As for another big third base target in the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, Rosenthal notes that Atlanta is among the clubs who have concerns about Bryant’s declining glovework (as per UZR/150 and Defensive Runs Saved) over the last few seasons. This doesn’t necessarily rule out a potential trade between the Braves and Cubs since Bryant could be used as a corner outfielder, though it doesn’t seem like Bryant is at the top of the Braves’ list at this point.

Speaking of fallback options for Donaldson, Rosenthal writes that Starlin Castro and Maikel Franco are on the Nationals’ radar as third base candidates. Washington has gotten long looks at both players from their days in the NL East, though both Castro and Franco would certainly be stopgap options at best given their underwhelming performances over the last few seasons. Castro has been a slightly below-average run producer (98 OPS+ and wRC+) since the start of the 2016 campaign, while Franco hasn’t lived up his billing as one of baseball’s top prospects, hitting only .249/.302/.431 over 2539 career PA with the Phillies.

In terms of bigger-ticket additions at third base, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link) reports that the Nationals have yet to touch base with the Cubs about Bryant, contrary to earlier reports. This isn’t to say that the Nats couldn’t still look into Bryant should Donaldson sign with another team.

FA Rumors: Reds, Ozuna, Giants, Didi, Brewers, Thames, Rox, Chirinos

By Connor Byrne | December 11, 2019 at 12:45am CDT

The Reds continue to show interest in free-agent corner outfielder Marcell Ozuna, Jon Morosi of MLB.com and Jon Heyman of MLB Network relay. In fact, the Reds and Ozuna’s camp have been in contact in the past 24 hours, Morosi adds. However, Ozuna is not expected to sign during this week’s Winter Meetings, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Instead, he seems inclined to wait for third basemen Anthony Rendon and Josh Donaldson to sign, which Sherman observes would leave him as the top bat on the open market (though Nicholas Castellanos may have something to say about that). A four-year deal is in play for Ozuna, Sherman suggests.

The Giants, Brewers and Reds were the runners-up for shortstop Didi Gregorius, per reports from Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia and C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. The presence of his former Yankees manager Joe Girardi in Philadelphia helped influence Gregorius to take the Phillies’ one-year, $14MM offer on Tuesday. Of the other teams involved, the Giants’ inclusion is particularly interesting. They already have an expensive veteran shortstop in Brandon Crawford, who has a sterling defensive reputation. Speculatively, the Giants could have been after Gregorius with the intention of playing him at second base. They wound up acquiring a different infielder, former Angel Zack Cozart, on Tuesday.
The Brewers are considering a reunion with first baseman/outfielder Eric Thames, general manager David Stearns told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters Tuesday. The club bought out Thames’ option for $1MM last month in lieu of paying him $7MM next season, but doing so left the Brewers dangerously thin at first base. Outfielder Ryan Braun may be an option at the position, but manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday (via Haudricourt) that he’s not going to be the Brewers’ primary choice there in 2020.
Robinson Chirinos, Austin Romine and Matt Wieters are among the available catchers the Rockies have spoken with, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports. The offensively solid Chirinos looks like the most appealing of the trio, as he could earn a multiyear contract worth in the neighborhood of $10MM. Whether the Rockies would be willing to go to those lengths is unknown, though it’s obvious they need help behind the plate. Their catchers (including current starter Tony Wolters) posted bottom-of-the-barrel offensive production in 2019.

FA Rumors: Ozuna, Braves, J. Castro, Stammen, Peraza, Grandy

By Connor Byrne and Jeff Todd | December 10, 2019 at 7:29pm CDT

The Braves are interested in free-agent outfielder Marcell Ozuna, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. This isn’t the first connection between the sides, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last month that the Braves were one of the clubs in on Ozuna. Now, though, it seems the Braves are willing to aggressively pursue the 29-year-old qualifying offer recipient. In the event third baseman Josh Donaldson leaves Atlanta for another team, the Braves would regard Ozuna as a viable fallback option, Morosi suggests. MLBTR predicts Ozuna will reel in a three-year, $45MM guarantee, and if he lands anywhere near that neighborhood, he should fall well short of Donaldson’s next contract. That said, replacing Donaldson’s bat with Ozuna’s would still leave a sizable hole at third base for the Braves.

Here’s the latest on several other free agents…

The Angels, Astros, and Rangers are among the organizations with interest in backstop Jason Castro, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). With Yasmani Grandal and Travis d’Arnaud off the market, the 32-year-old Castro could be the best catcher left on the board. The pitch-framing savant’s coming off a strong season in Minnesota, where he batted .232/.332/.435 in 275 plate appearances and earned positive grades in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric.
Several teams appear to be in the market for reliever Craig Stammen. The right-hander’s most recent team, the Padres, as well as the Astros, Diamondbacks, Reds, White Sox, Blue Jays and Cardinals have all expressed interest, per Morosi (Twitter links). Stammen, whom MLBTR projects for a two-year, $10MM guarantee, has put together a strong career divided between Washington and San Diego. The 35-year-old logged a 3.29 ERA with 8.01 K/9, 1.65 BB/9 and a 50.8 percent groundball rate in 82 innings last season as a Padre.
The Reds are one of the teams with interest in Japanese center fielder Shogo Akiyama, president of baseball operations Dick Williams revealed (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Clubs have until Dec. 19 to sign Akiyama, who had an impressive run with the Seibu Lions from 2011-19. It’s unclear what a potential Reds-Akiyama union would mean for Nick Senzel, their starting center fielder last season. Senzel could perhaps move to the corner outfield, which does look like a need area for the Reds.
The Cardinals are interested in re-signing backup catcher Matt Wieters, according to general manager Michael Girsch (via Goold). Whether it’s Wieters or someone else, the team seems intent on adding a veteran to play behind Yadier Molina. Wieters could wind up in Oakland if he doesn’t go back to St. Louis, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Athletics have shown interest in the 33-year-old to back up Sean Murphy. This is the second straight offseason in which Wieters has landed on the A’s radar.
The Orioles and Indians are two of the four teams that have shown interest in infielder Jose Peraza, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). The Reds non-tendered Peraza last week on the heels of an unproductive season, but he’s only a year removed from a respectable showing. The 25-year-old’s also controllable via arbitration through 2022.
Although he hopes to play next season, there has been little interest in outfielder Curtis Granderson, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. The soon-to-be 39-year-old Granderson is a revered clubhouse presence who has enjoyed an outstanding career, but he’s a free agent at an inopportune time. Granderson struggled to a .183/.281/.356 line with minus-1.4 fWAR in 363 plate trips with the Marlins last season.

Latest On Giants’ Pursuit Of Nicholas Castellanos

By Jeff Todd | December 10, 2019 at 3:37pm CDT

Since taking over the Giants front office, Farhan Zaidi has executed a bevy of minor claims and signings while dealing away some veteran assets. But he has also explored massive free agent contracts, declined to strip the roster of veterans, and held back some trade chips from the summer market. The big-revenue team isn’t tanking and remains a threat to land any player it likes.

With that as the backdrop, the Giants appear to be playing an increasingly interesting role in the development of this year’s free agent market. There are some hints the team could even be involved quietly in the Gerrit Cole market, though it’s still unclear whether the Giants would really make a shocking run at the market’s biggest prize.

There’s no reason whatsoever the Giants should be ruled out of significant free agents, though. The club seems now to be a particular threat to land slugging corner outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, who would add some much-needed pop to the lineup. This connection was made recently and now is gaining some steam.

At least one rival executive is so convinced of the Giants’ interest as to presume that Castellanos will end up in San Francisco, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The club does indeed have “genuine” interest in Castellanos, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link), though the veteran beat reporter isn’t necessarily tabbing them the favorites.

This all makes sense on paper. In our top 50 free agent prediction post, we guessed the Giants would end up with a similar player in Marcell Ozuna, but both youthful performers have essentially similar market situations. Some teams may prefer the greater recent offensive output of Castellanos or the generally better-regarded glovework of Ozuna. It seems the Giants are smitten enough with Castellanos that he could be the priority, though there’s still time for the market to take any number of different paths.

Cardinals Looking For Outfielders, Prefer Lefty Bats

By Mark Polishuk | December 10, 2019 at 4:01am CDT

The Cardinals weren’t one of the league’s better-hitting teams in general last season, and in particular struggled against right-handed pitching. For that reason, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold) that “if we could find a way to get a little more lefthanded, we would be encouraged to do that. So, I think people feel that they’re a little too lefthanded [in their lineup] then it might make sense for us to be talking.” Mozeliak hinted that the Cards would prefer to add a lefty bat in a trade rather than through the free agent market, though trade talks have been “slow” to date.

To this end, Goold reports that the Cardinals have been looking to add a left-handed hitting outfielder in exchange for a package that would include at least one of their young right-handed hitting outfielders. Looking at such players on the Cards’ 40-man roster, Harrison Bader, Jose Martinez, Yairo Munoz, Tyler O’Neill, Lane Thomas, Randy Arozarena, Adolis Garcia, and Rangel Ravelo are all either full-time outfielders or at least have some outfield experience, leaving St. Louis with a wealth of possible trade chips for trades large or small.

By contrast, the Rangers are a team with a surplus of left-handed outfielders, and Goold reports that Texas and St. Louis have indeed been in talks. The Cards’ ideal acquisition would be both relatively inexpensive and capable of playing every day. The latter issue could keep the Cardinals from pursuing someone like the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson, in Goold’s view, given Pederson’s struggles at hitting lefty pitching (though I would submit that the Cards would certainly seem to have enough right-handed hitting depth to find a platoon partner for Pederson in center field).

Of course, the Cardinals would get an immediate boost against right-handed pitching if their most prominent left-handed hitter returned to his old form after a disastrous 2019 season. Mozeliak revealed that Matt Carpenter has begun an offseason training program to add both weight and strength, after tests from the performance department revealed that Carpenter declined in both areas over the course of the season. “He’s one of those types of players that has a hard time holding weight,” Mozeliak said. “One of the things that we’ve tried to do this offseason is find a strength program that we think could work for him so he can maintain that. As the season unfolds, it’s something that we’ll need to be conscious of and intentional about to try to keep that up.”

In addition to their search for lefty bats, the Cardinals are still interested in a very prominent right-handed bat in Marcell Ozuna. Mozeliak felt his club was “still in the game,” for the free agent slugger, saying “we’re not closing any doors. Doors may get closed, but it’s not our doing.” The Reds, Braves, Rangers, Diamondbacks, and White Sox have all been mentioned as interested parties in the Ozuna market, and with reports indicating that the bidding could go as high as five years, it seems hard to imagine St. Louis is willing to truly break the bank to re-sign Ozuna. Since Ozuna rejected the qualifying offer, the Cardinals will obtain an extra pick (roughly between the 75th-85th overall selections) in the 2020 draft should Ozuna sign elsewhere.

Quick Hits: Yankees, Ozuna, Pirates, Hamels

By George Miller | November 23, 2019 at 11:50am CDT

The Yankees have made a notable addition to their player development staff, hiring Rachel Balkovec to serve as a minor league hitting coach, reports Lindsay Berra of The New York Times. Balkovec, 32, played college softball with both Creighton and New Mexico and went on to earn two master’s degrees in kinesiology and the science of human movement. She broke into the industry as the Cardinals’ minor league strength and conditioning coordinator and landed a job with the Astros in Latin America after teaching herself Spanish. With Houston, she would meet Dillon Lawson, who now works as the Yankees’ hitting coordinator and recommended Balkovec for the job. She has also worked with Driveline Baseball, conducting research on hitters’ eye tracking and pitchers’ hip movement, which she hopes to apply in her work with the Yankees. As Berra writes, Balkovec is believed to be the first woman employed as a full-time hitting coach at any level of professional baseball. She’ll begin her work in earnest when spring training rolls around in February.

Free agent outfielder Marcell Ozuna could be in line for a five-year deal, according to J.P. Morosi of MLB Network (video via Twitter). Interestingly, Morosi also names a market of five teams that have expressed preliminary interest in the 29-year-old slugger—which includes a few teams that haven’t been mentioned as obvious suitors for Ozuna. It’ll come as no surprise that the Cardinals remain connected to Ozuna, but Morosi also lists the Rangers, Reds, Diamondbacks, and Braves as teams that could pursue him. Five years still feels a bit optimistic for a player who has yet to show that the career-best numbers he put up in 2017 are repeatable; MLBTR tabbed Ozuna for a three-year deal at the outset of the offseason. However, it’s hadly surprising that Ozuna is drawing his fair share of interest, given his age and raw skills.
The Pirates are no longer considering Joey Cora for their unfilled manager post, Tweets Enrique Rojas of ESPN. That leaves Twins bench coach Derek Shelton and the Rays’ Matt Quatraro atop GM Ben Cherington’s wish list. Cora has worked as a coach within the Bucs organization for the last several years, first as the Double-A skipper and later as a base coach for the big league team. His ascent up the coaching ladder will be temporarily put on hold, with the Pirates apparently turning their focus to external candidates. The Pirates’ is the last remaining managerial vacancy, so it looks like they won’t have to compete with other clubs for Quatraro or Shelton—assuming they are willing to leave their current employers.
Turning our attention to free agent pitchers, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark is hearing from Cole Hamels’s agent that the 35-year-old southpaw is a hot commodity, having drawn inquiries from as many as 14 teams. We’ll see just how much of this rumbling is a representative trying to drive up the price for his client, but it’s not hard to see why Hamels has a robust market. There’s no shortage of clubs vying for help in the starting rotation, and Hamels provides exactly that while coming at a considerably lower cost than consensus top options like Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, and Zack Wheeler: Hamels doesn’t come saddled with a qualifying offer, and, at age 35, won’t rival the market’s juggernauts in contract length or yearly value. For pitching-needy teams that have balked at the asking prices for Cole, Strasburg, and Wheeler, Hamels represents a short-term, reasonably-priced alternative who’s shown he can still hang.

Marlins Notes: Free Agents, Castellanos, Urena, Chen, Mejia

By Mark Polishuk | November 21, 2019 at 5:09pm CDT

While the Marlins have made it clear that upgrading the offense is a priority this winter, the team would prefer to stay away from long-term contracts so as not to block its younger position players, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. Any number of veterans could fit as short-term adds for 2020, though it does mean the Marlins likely won’t be signing Marcell Ozuna or Nicholas Castellanos, two free agents Miami was rumored to have interest in signing. Jackson notes that the Fish aren’t keen to give up the draft pick necessary to sign Ozuna (who rejected a Cardinals’ qualifying offer), while Castellanos is probably also unlikely, though the Marlins “could enter the bidding if he’s still available in a few weeks and willing to accept a shorter deal.” One would imagine that if Castellanos was open to a short-term deal, however, he might prefer to take such a contract with a contending team rather than the rebuilding Marlins.

Some more from South Beach…

Also from Jackson’s piece, “the Marlins are leaning toward tendering” a contract to Jose Urena, who is projected for a $4MM salary in arbitration this offseason. After solid results in 2017-18, Urena struggled to a 5.21 ERA over 84 2/3 innings in a season hampered by injury, and it’s possible Miami could now opt to use him as a reliever rather than the rotation. Even for a low-payroll team like the Marlins, $4MM doesn’t seem like too expensive a sum for a pitcher with Urena’s resume, though Jackson notes that Miami could tender Urena a contract now and then release him before Opening Day (thus paying only a fraction of his agreed-upon salary) if they don’t like what they see in Spring Training.
After a busy day of roster additions and subtractions on Wednesday, president of baseball operations Michael Hill discussed the team’s moves with reporters (including MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro and Wells Dusenbury of the South Florida Sun Sentinel). The most notable transactions was Wei-Yin Chen being designated for assignment, which all but officially ended the southpaw’s disappointing tenure in Miami after signing a five-year, $80MM deal in the 2015-16 offseason. Chen still has one year and $22MM remaining on that contract, though the DFA “was not about money. It was about building the best and deepest 40-man roster to allow us to compete in 2020 and beyond,” Hill said. Since Chen wasn’t expected to be a big contributor next season and his trade value was virtually non-existent, it isn’t a shock that the Marlins felt that Chen’s roster spot was better used to protect a young player from the Rule 5 Draft.
All in all, six players were added to the 40-man in advance of the Rule 5 deadline — shortstop Jazz Chisholm, first baseman Lewin Diaz, and right-handers Sixto Sanchez, Nick Neidert, Humberto Mejia and Edward Cabrera. It seems like Mejia was the only member of the group who wasn’t a no-brainer, as his inclusion on the 40-man “took a lot of discussion among our group,” Hill said. “He battled injuries in his history, but you’re talking about a very physical right-handed pitcher with three pitches and he’s an extreme strike-thrower. We feel he’s a future major league starter and we didn’t think we should leave that profile exposed.” As Hill noted, Mejia “pitched his way onto the roster” following a strong 2019 season that saw the righty post a 2.09 ERA over 90 1/3 innings at the A-ball and high-A ball levels.

NL Notes: Ozuna, Braves, Marlins, Reds, D-backs, Souza

By Anthony Franco | November 18, 2019 at 10:55pm CDT

The Braves “have some interest” in free agent outfielder Marcell Ozuna, hears Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Atlanta joins the previously-known Cardinals, Reds, White Sox, Rangers, and Marlins in the early sweepstakes for the corner outfielder. Atlanta already re-signed Nick Markakis, but he could be in line for a lesser role after a subpar age-36 season. Alternatively, Atlanta could move Ronald Acuña to center field full-time should they acquire another corner outfielder, be it Ozuna or someone else. Signing the 29-year-old Ozuna, a qualifying offer recipient, would cost the Braves their second-highest draft choice and $500K of international bonus pool space.

Marlins “Believed” To Have Interest In Castellanos, Ozuna

By Steve Adams | November 14, 2019 at 6:54pm CDT

TODAY: The Marlins are also “considering” a reunion with Marcell Ozuna, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. Since Ozuna rejected the Cardinals’ qualifying offer, however, FNTSY Radio’s Craig Mish doesn’t believe the Marlins would give up the required draft pick compensation to sign the outfielder.

MONDAY: The Marlins are looking to add a position player to their everyday lineup, as the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported last week, and the team is “believed” to have interest in free agent right fielder Nicholas Castellanos, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes today.

Miami would presumably have to overpay in order to persuade a fairly notable free agent to sign a multi-year deal in the midst of a rebuild, but the fit makes sense for a few reasons. Beyond the sheer fact that the Marlins’ offense in 2019 was horrific, Castellanos is a Miami-area native. He attended high school a mere 25 miles from Marlins park, so signing in Miami would likely hold more appeal to him than to the standard free agent. He’s also an unusually young free agent at 27 years of age (28 in March), so he’d theoretically still be in his prime years when Miami seeks to emerge from its rebuild. Castellanos was ineligible to receive a qualifying offer, so he won’t cost the rebuilding Marlins any draft picks. (Although, notably, president of baseball ops Michael Hill suggested last week that a qualifying offer may not be the detriment most would expect.)

On the other side of the equation, Castellanos’ enthusiasm over being in a pennant race with the Cubs can’t be ignored. He’s spent most of his career on a cellar-dwelling Tigers club and was outspoken on multiple occasions about what it meant to him to play meaningful games in September. At least as far as the 2020 season goes, that’s not really a selling point the Marlins can include in their pitch (hence the previously mentioned need to overpay).

Signing Castellanos or any other corner outfielder — Avisail Garcia, Corey Dickerson and old friend Marcell Ozuna are among the alternatives — would likely mean keeping third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson on the infield. Anderson, 26, has emerged as a potential building block himself and is the team’s clear best position player at the moment. Teaming him and Castellanos up in the heart of the order would assuredly give the Marlins improved offensive output, and the Marlins can easily afford to pursue such an arrangement. Miami has a ridiculously low $26.75MM committed to the 2020 roster $22MM to Wei-Yin Chen and $4.75MM to Miguel Rojas) and just $5MM in 2021 (plus $3MM per year to the Yankees for Giancarlo Stanton).

In fact, Miami’s payroll is so low, they’ll likely feel pressured to spend some money in the offseason. The MLBPA raised concerns about the team’s use of its revenue-sharing profits two seasons ago when payroll was substantially higher, and they’re currently on pace to have a league-low $52.79MM payroll in 2020 (including three arbitration-eligible players, 21 pre-arbitration players and the Stanton payout). Miami’s $63MM Opening Day payroll in 2019 was already the lowest in the Majors, and a further reduction could once again call the team’s allocation of its revenue-sharing funds into question.

Castellanos split the 2019 season between the Tigers and the Cubs, hitting a combined .289/.337/.525 — including a ridiculous .321/.356/.646 following his trade to Chicago. His right-field defense is regarded as well below-average, though the 2019 season was only his second year at the position after moving there from third base (and his numbers improved dramatically from 2018 to 2019).

7 Players Reject Qualifying Offers

By Mark Polishuk | November 14, 2019 at 4:10pm CDT

The 4pm CT deadline has passed for free agents to accept or reject qualifying offers, and seven of the 10 players issued offers have officially turned them down. An eighth free agent, Will Smith, rejected the Giants’ qualifying offer and left the free agent market even before the deadline passed, signing a three-year, $40MM deal with the Braves. Jake Odorizzi of the Twins and Jose Abreu of the White Sox each accepted their team’s qualifying offers, and will now earn $17.8MM for the 2020 season.

Here are the seven players who rejected their former team’s one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer….

Madison Bumgarner (Giants)
Gerrit Cole (Astros)
Josh Donaldson (Braves)
Marcell Ozuna (Cardinals)
Anthony Rendon (Nationals)
Stephen Strasburg (Nationals)
Zack Wheeler (Mets)

There aren’t any surprises in that list, as there wasn’t doubt that Bumgarner, Cole, Donaldson, Rendon, Strasburg, and Wheeler would forego the one-year offer in search of a much richer, multi-year commitment. There was perhaps a bit more uncertainty surrounding Ozuna and Smith, given that Ozuna was coming off a pair of good but unspectacular years in St. Louis and Smith could perhaps have been wary of how the QO would impact his market, given what happened to another closer in Craig Kimbrel last winter.

If anything, the only real surprise occurred on the acceptance side, as Odorizzi was seen as a candidate to receive a multi-year offer before he opted to remain in Minnesota in 2020. Abreu, on the other hand, was widely expected to remain with the White Sox in some fashion, either via the QO or perhaps a multi-year extension. It should be noted that Odorizzi and Abreu are still free to negotiate longer-term deals with their respective teams even after accepting the qualifying offer.

Teams that sign a QO-rejecting free agent will have to give up at least one draft pick and some amount of international bonus pool money as compensation. (Click here for the list of what each individual team would have to forfeit to sign a QO free agent). The Astros, Nationals, Giants, Mets, Cardinals, and Braves are each in the same tier of compensation pool, so if any of their QO free agents signs elsewhere, the six teams will receive a compensatory draft pick between Competitive Balance Round B and the third round of the 2020 draft, or roughly in the range of the 75th to 85th overall pick. Atlanta, for instance, probably didn’t mind giving up their third-highest selection in the 2020 draft to sign Smith since the Braves have another pick coming back to their if Donaldson leaves for another club.

A total of 90 players have been issued qualifying offers since the QO system was introduced during the 2012-13 offseason, and Odorizzi and Abreu become the seventh and eighth players to accept the one-year pact. Odorizzi and Abreu are now ineligible to receive a qualifying offer in any future trips into free agency, so both players won’t be tied to draft/international pool penalties if they hit the open market following the 2020 season.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand was the first to report that Donaldson turned down his QO, while ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan was the first to report on the other six names.

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