Trent Grisham among four players to accept qualifying offer

A few weeks ago, 13 players received a qualifying offer of $22.05 million. They had until 4 p.m. today to accept or decline.

A player can receive a qualifying offer if he has never had one before, is a free agent and has spent the entire 2025 season with the same team. If the offer is declined, the player's former club will receive a compensatory draft pick if the player signs elsewhere.

And if the player accepts… that's a one-year contract in his pocket.

Normally, between zero and two players sign the one-year qualifying offer each year. But this season, despite the risk of a work stoppage in a year's time, four guys said yes: Trent Grisham (Yankees), Shota Imanaga (Cubs), Brandon Woodruff (Brewers) and Gleyber Torres (Tigers).

The Yankees tried to play nice by offering Trent Grisham a $22.05M contract to control his market. The latter simply said thank you very much and took the offer, which could handcuff the Bombardiers in their handling of the Cody Bellinger file.

Reminder: the Yankees want to trim the fat in 2026, but Grisham will win big.

https://twitter.com/BrendanKutyNJ/status/1990892279720968295

The Cubs and Tigers will probably be happy to keep their player for just one year before re-evaluating everything. I don't think that's a negative for those clubs.

The Brewers, on the other hand, might not be happy to pay so much for a starter, even if he is excellent. Note that Woodruff's return could prompt the Brewers to trade Freddy Peralta.

Nine players (Bo Bichette, Dylan Cease, Edwin Diaz, Zac Gallen, Michael King, Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suarez, Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez) remain available, having said no to the qualifying offer.

If they change clubs, their former organization will have a compensatory choice.

• Frankie Montas released. He's injured and wouldn't have pitched all year anyway.

• Devin Williams in demand.

• Kiké Hernandez in Dodgers' sights.

This content was created with the help of AI.