Juan Soto , Alex Bregman , Willy Adames , Pete Alonso , Corbin Burnes and Max Fried are among the 12 players who opted for free agency instead of signing the qualifying offers extended to them by their teams, leaving Cincinnati Reds right-hander Nick Martinez as the lone player to accept ahead of Tuesday's deadline. Soto, the crown jewel of this year's free-agent class, spent last season with the New York Yankees team that won the American League pennant and is widely expected to sign a contract worth at least $500 million. Bregman, Adames, Alonso, Burnes and Fried should also net nine-figure deals.
The qualifying offer is a mechanism for teams to receive compensatory draft picks when their best players sign elsewhere. Eligible free agents -- those who have not previously been given a qualifying offer and spent the entire prior season on the same team -- can be tendered a one-year contract for the mean salary of Major League Baseball's 125 highest-paid players, a number that has jumped from $13.3 million to $21.
05 million over the last dozen years. Editor's Picks MLB execs on the offseason's biggest questions: Intel on Juan Soto's new deal, Garrett Crochet's next team 6h Jesse Rogers Three overvalued and three undervalued MLB free agents 4d Kiley McDaniel Who are the favorites for Soto? Which teams will go all-in this winter? Jeff Passan's ultimate MLB offseason preview 7d Jeff Passan If that player signs elsewhere, his prior team will receive an additional draft pick either .