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Thirteen players receive qualifying offers

The thirteen players will have until next Monday to decide if they will accept or decline the qualifying offer.

By Chris Cotillo
Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

The deadline has now passed for teams to extend qualifying offers to their pending free agents, and thirteen major leaguers were extended one-year, $14.1 million offers by their 2013 teams. The players who received offers are Robinson Cano (Yankees), Hiroki Kuroda (Yankees), Curtis Granderson (Yankees), Mike Napoli (Red Sox), Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), Stephen Drew (Red Sox), Ervin Santana (Royals), Ubaldo Jimenez (Indians), Brian McCann (Braves), Nelson Cruz (Rangers), Kendrys Morales (Mariners), Shin-Soo Choo (Reds) and Carlos Beltran (Cardinals).

If any of those thirteen players sign elsewhere, their former teams will receive draft pick compensation from the team that signs the player.

Cano, Ellsbury, Santana, McCann, Cruz, Morales, Choo and Beltran are all almost certain to decline their qualifying offers and seek multi-year deals on the free-agent market. The other five players may look to accept the offers once they realize that the $14.1 million figure may be more than they can attain in average annual value on the open market.

Kuroda, 38, is likely to receive another one-year deal this winter, and the Yankees would love to have him back in their rotation. It is unlikely that he would receive more than $14.1 million elsewhere, so he may be the most likely candidate to accept the qualifying offer.

Granderson could receive a multi-year deal on the open market that is worth less in average annual value than the qualifying offer, but also may go back to the Yankees on a one-year deal. Agent Matt Brown recently told Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News that his client "might" accept a qualifying offer if one is offered to him.

Drew, who signed with the Sox last offseason on a one-year, $9.5 million contract, could accept the offer based on the assumpotion that he will likely not receive as much in average annual value on the open market. While Drew could look for a multi-year contract and playing time elsewhere, the high-dollar figure of a qualifying offer may be enticing enough for Drew to return to Boston.

Napoli, who hit .259 with 23 HR and 92 RBI on the season, will likely also consider returning to Boston on the one-year, $14.1 million deal. He is known to love the city and the fanbase, causing many to speculate that it will be hard for teams to pull him away from the Red Sox.

Jimenez is one of the top free agent starters available this winter, but may not be able to earn $14.1 million per year on a two or three-year deal. The Indians have consistently expressed interest in bringing him back to Cleveland, so he may have to settle for the one-year, high-dollar deal

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