SAN FRANCISCO – Major League Baseball and the players' association have determined that qualifying offers for eligible free agents will be $13.3 million.
A team has until 5 p.m. Eastern time on the fifth day following the World Series to make a qualifying offer and a player has until 5 p.m. EST on the seventh day after the World Series to accept it.
If a player rejects a qualifying offer and signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former club would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round. The club signing that player loses its first-round pick in the following amateur draft, unless that pick is among the top 10, in which case the club signing that player loses its next-highest pick.
Baseball's new labor contract sets the price at the average of the 125 highest contracts by average annual value.
Under the labor contract that began this season, this replaces the previous system of Type A and Type B free agents, which had been in existence since the 1981 strike settlement.
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