Shota Imanaga, Trent Grisham among record four players to accept 2025 qualifying offer; nine others decline

Major League Baseball’s deadline for players to accept the qualifying offer passed on Tuesday afternoon. With it, four players accepted a one-year tender worth $22.205 million to return to their 2025 teams: right-handed pitcher Brandon Woodruff (Brewers), lefty Shota Imanaga (Cubs), infielder Gleyber Torres (Tigers), and outfielder Trent Grisham (Yankees). 

The other nine players, including Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez, will remain free agents and will now allow their former team to gain draft-pick compensation if they sign elsewhere. 

For the Yankees, getting Grisham back to play center field and possibly hit leadoff in front of Aaron Judge again is nice. They have Ben Rice at first base, Giancarlo Stanton at DH and Jasson Domínguez is slotted for left field. This likely means either that there isn’t a place for the return of free agent Cody Bellinger or the Yankees would have to do some reshuffling if he is brought back. Could that mean a Domínguez trade?

As for the Cubs, Imanaga rejoins a rotation that includes Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton and Jameson Taillon along with depth options Colin Rea and Javier Assad, not to mention the return of Justin Steele from Tommy John surgery at some point. The Cubs are likely still looking for a frontline starter, but there’s plenty of depth here, to the point that it’s possible someone from the group is traded.

Woodruff, meanwhile, will become the highest-paid Brewers pitcher in a single season in franchise history. 

Free agents have to meet certain criteria to be eligible for the qualifying offer (QO). Players can only receive the QO once in their career and they must have spent the preceding season with only one team — that means anyone traded in-season is ineligible. The value of the QO isn’t random: it’s the average of the top 125 salaries for a given year. This winter, that means it’s $22.205 million.

As for the draft-pick compensation component, the exact placement of that pick hinges on a variety of factors, such as a team’s revenue-sharing and luxury tax statuses. That’s true of both the team signing and losing the free agent.

Entering this offseason, just 14 of the 144 players to receive the QO accepted it. Below you’ll find out what decision each of the 13 relevant players made at Tuesday’s deadline.

Kyle Tucker, OF, Cubs

• Decision: Declined

Bo Bichette, SS, Blue Jays

• Decision: Declined

Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros

• Decision: Declined

Kyle Schwarber, DH, Phillies

• Decision: Declined

Shota Imanaga, LHP, Cubs

• Decision: Accepted

Ranger Suárez, LHP, Phillies

• Decision: Declined

Dylan Cease, RHP, Padres

• Decision: Declined

Edwin Díaz, RHP, Mets

• Decision: Declined

Trent Grisham, OF, Yankees

• Decision: Accepted

Michael King, RHP, Padres

• Decision: Declined

Zac Gallen, RHP, Diamondbacks

• Decision: Declined

Brandon Woodruff, RHP, Brewers

• Decision: Accepted

Gleyber Torres, 2B, Tigers

• Decision: Accepted