It's decision time for two Dodgers.
Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, and starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, each received qualifying offers of $17.9 million on Friday for next season.
The qualifying offer is similar to the franchise tag in the National Football League. A team is able to offer a one-year contract (at a predetermined salary based on the mean of the top 125 players) and is given draft pick compensation should the player decline the offer.
Most free agents who believe their market value is greater than $17.9 million (we're looking at you Bryce Harper) will naturally decline the offer.
However, others whose value took a hit over the course of the season, often times take the offer like Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson did in 2016 after an injury-plagued season in 2015. That same year, Zack Greinke turned down a qualifying offer and nearly doubled that amount in average annual salary in his new deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers had a deadline of 5:00PM EST on Friday to make the offers, and only Grandal and Ryu were given them. Outside of those two, only five others received offers across the league (Harper, Patrick Corbin, A.J. Pollock, Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel).
Most of those are players are expected to reject the qualifying offers, but Grandal's situation is more complicated.
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Grandal's offense is elite. Each and every year he leads the National League in home runs at his position, but his defense has been less than stellar. For the second postseason in a row, Grandal lost his starting job to Austin Barnes in the playoffs.
Grandal made $7.9 million in 2018, so an extra $10 million on top of that for 2019, is a significant pay raise. However, Grandal might be frustrated with losing his starting job in the playoffs the last two years, and could seek a deal with another team for less money, just for more playing time. My guess is he declines, and receives a comparable offer on a longer deal.
Ryu made a base salary of $7 million in 2018 with a signing bonus of $833,333. It's surprising the Dodgers made him a qualifying offer considering how injury prone he's been for the last few seasons. If Ryu was smart, he would take the offer. However, after a sensational end to the season and a string of postseason starts under his belt, it's possible he thinks he can make more on the open market and declines.
Both players have 10 days to accept or decline the offers.
