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Yesterday, Colby Ramsus became the first player to ever accept a qualifying offer, but he now has company as Matt Wieters has joined the club.
wieters is taking the qualifying offer #orioles
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 13, 2015
Wieters was the top free agent catcher available on the market, however after a down season, his value had undoubtedly taken a hit. He was a league average hitter in 2015, and while Dave Cameron and Jon Heyman projected him for contracts worth $64 million and $42 million, respectively, Wieters could likely do better if he can return to his 2014 offensive levels.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of Wieters taking the qualifying offer is the fact that Scott Boras is his agent. Just two days ago, Boras was quoted as saying that "qualifying offers represent something 'wrong with baseball'" and that "'there would have to be a unique set of circumstances' for one of his clients to accept a qualifying offer."
With Wieters and Rasmus taking their respective qualifying offers, it will be interesting to see if anyone else follows their lead. Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Ian Kennedy is rejecting his QO, which is somewhat surprising given the starting pitching depth on the open-market. Other players to watch before the 5 p.m. ET deadline are Wei-Yin Chen, Brett Anderson, and Daniel Murphy.