The New York Yankees, particularly fans, are still grieving their World Series loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, it’s now time to move on and focus on what’s at stake: a pivotal offseason for the next decade or so.
The Yankees have numerous free agents hitting the market, and some of them will surely receive qualifying offers. Juan Soto, for example, is sure to get one, which he will reject because he is looking at a $600+ million deal.
The qualifying offer is set at $21.05 million this year. Players who take it will remain with their team for one more year under that salary.
Could the Yankees offer it to volatile second baseman Gleyber Torres? MLB squads have until Monday at 5 pm ET to extend qualifying offers to their pending free agents, so we might have some news later today.
The Yankees might take a chance and extend a QO to Torres
In the specific case of Torres, he is a valued member of the Yankees despite a few mental lapses here and there and the fact it feels like he has underachieved in his career.
Despite finishing the season with a rather disappointing .708 OPS, he did run away with the leadoff spot in the second half and was much in the playoffs with a .745 OPS.
The problem with extending the qualifying offer to Torres is that he might as well take it and bank on his second-half surge to re-establish his value ahead of free agency next year. Torres isn’t a bad player, but the Yankees will probably be cost-conscious with their CBT number already high and with Soto’s free agency in mind.
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Still, it’s easy to see the team extending the QO to Gleyber because there is a sizable chance he rejects it and becomes attached to draft picks compensation.
We will find out later today.