Teams can extend a qualifying offer to select free agents each offseason. Players who accept are signed to a one-year deal for the next season at the designated value ($22.025 million for 2026). Those who don’t accept remain free agents, and if a new team signs them, their old team receives Draft pick compensation.
Here’s a breakdown of the pending free agents who could receive qualifying offers this offseason, along with a list of notable players who aren’t eligible for a QO and information on the Draft compensation and penalties tied to the QO.
Players listed in order of 2025 WAR (per FanGraphs)
Schwarber’s walk year couldn’t have gone much better, as he led the NL in homers (56) and the Majors in RBIs (132) with a career-high 150 OPS+ over 162 games, wrapping up his four-year, $79 million contract with the Phillies in grand fashion. During the course of that deal, only Aaron Judge had more home runs than Schwarber’s 187. He’s also been an impactful postseason performer, hitting 23 playoff dingers.
The top player in the 2025-26 free-agent class, Tucker will enter his age-29 season having recorded 23.4 WAR (per FanGraphs) and a 145 OPS+ since the beginning of 2021. Despite dealing with a hairline fracture in his right hand and a left calf strain in 2025, he still posted his third career 20-20 season (22 HR, 25 SB) with a 143 OPS+ over 136 games for the Cubs, who acquired him from the Astros in December.
Suárez has posted a 3.39 ERA over 116 starts since joining the Phillies’ rotation in 2021, the 13th-best mark among MLB starters during that span (min. 100 starts). He also has an impressive track record of playoff success, with a lifetime 1.48 ERA over 42 2/3 innings in the postseason.
Perhaps the best starter in a market lacking a true ace, Valdez has found a formula for consistent success with the Astros. The lefty owns a 3.23 ERA over 973 innings since the beginning of 2020, combining solid strikeout numbers with a heavy dose of ground balls.
After recording a .598 OPS over 81 games in an injury-plagued 2024 season, Bichette entered ’25 needing a strong year to recuperate his stock ahead of free agency. He delivered in a big way, looking like his old self while hitting .311 with 18 homers, 94 RBIs and an .840 OPS.
The results have been inconsistent, but Cease has excellent stuff and has proven to be quite durable. The right-hander led all starters (minimum 1,000 swings) with a 33.8% whiff rate in 2025, which marked his fifth straight season with at least 214 K’s and 32 games started.
One of the biggest surprises of 2025, Grisham set career highs in a number of categories this past season, including homers (34), RBIs (74), walks (82) and OPS (.811). That was a big step up from 2022-24, when he slashed .191/.298/.353 with 39 home runs in 381 games.
The Yankees didn’t extend a qualifying offer to Torres when he was a free agent last offseason, so he’s still eligible to receive one from the Tigers, who signed the second baseman to a one-year, $15 million deal in December. Torres made the All-Star team for Detroit but regressed in the second half (.659) and finished with 16 homers, 74 RBIs and a .745 OPS (108 OPS+), numbers in line with his 2024 production.
Flaherty’s 2025 performance (4.64 ERA) added to his inconsistent track record and gave him a tough decision to make: accept his $20 million salary for 2026 or opt out and try his luck at free agency again. It’s not a given that he’ll take the opt-out route after his protracted experience in free agency last offseason, when he was coming off a much better year and didn’t have a QO attached to him.
Díaz didn’t receive a qualifying offer the last time he was a free agent at the end of the 2022 campaign, as the Mets re-signed him to a five-year, $102 million deal (a record for a reliever) before the QO deadline. Díaz, who finished 2025 with a 1.63 ERA and a 13.3 K/9, is expected to opt out of his contract this offseason.
Although he didn’t regain the strikeout stuff of his heyday, the 2025 campaign was still a solid comeback year for Giolito after he pitched to a 4.89 ERA across ’22-23 and then missed all of ’24 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander made 26 starts for Boston with a 3.41 ERA.
Josh Hader’s departure as a free agent after the 2023 season opened the door for Suarez to assume the closer job for the Padres, and the latter responded by converting more saves (76) than anyone else over the past two years to go with his 2.87 ERA. He’s expected to opt out of his contract this offseason to test his value on the open market.
Woodruff has missed substantial time due to injuries in his career — including all of 2024 following right shoulder surgery — but few starters have been better on a per-inning basis since ’19. Before a right lat strain put him back on the shelf in September, Woodruff had a 3.20 ERA and a 5.93 K/BB over 12 starts for the Brewers.
One of the best relievers in baseball during his time with the Brewers, Williams had a rocky debut season with the Yankees after being traded from Milwaukee to New York in the offseason. However, Williams finished the year strong and still had some elite peripherals under the hood, so it’s possible he’ll receive a qualifying offer.
The D-backs shipped off a number of pending free agents at the Trade Deadline but ended up holding onto Gallen, who recorded a career-worst 4.83 ERA over 33 starts in 2025 — a far cry from his 3.29 ERA across ’19-24.
Arraez isn’t without his faults, but nobody is better at putting their bat on the ball. The three-time batting champion owns a lifetime .317 average and just recorded the lowest strikeout rate (3.1%) by a qualified hitter since the days of Tony Gwynn.
After two seasons with the Cubs, during which he had a 3.28 ERA and a 5.39 K/BB over 54 starts, Imanaga could reach free agency this offseason if multiple levers are pulled. First, the Cubs would need to decline their three-year, $57 million club option on Imanaga, which would in turn give the lefty a $15 million player option for 2026. Declining that would make Imanaga a free agent, at which point Chicago would have the option of extending him a qualifying offer.
King made a successful transition to a full-time starting job in 2024, finishing seventh in the NL Cy Young Award voting. He was on his way to another outstanding year in ’25 before injuries intervened, costing him roughly half the season.
Not every free agent can receive a QO. Players who have previously received a QO are ineligible, which means these pending free agents are not eligible to receive one:
Pete Alonso (Mets), Tyler Anderson (Angels), Chris Bassitt (Blue Jays), Cody Bellinger (Yankees), Alex Bregman (Red Sox), Alex Cobb (Tigers), Michael Conforto (Dodgers), Patrick Corbin (Rangers), Jason Heyward (Padres), Raisel Iglesias (Braves), Kenley Jansen (Angels), Nick Martinez (Reds), Martín Pérez (White Sox), Marcell Ozuna (Braves), J.T. Realmuto (Phillies), David Robertson (Phillies), Carlos Santana (Cubs), Max Scherzer (Blue Jays), Chris Taylor (Angels), Justin Turner (Cubs), Justin Verlander (Giants)
Players who weren’t continuously with an organization, either in the Minors or Majors, from Opening Day until the end of the regular season are also ineligible. Notable pending free agents in this category who weren’t mentioned above include:
COMPENSATION AND PENALTIES
If a team gives a qualifying offer to a player who then signs elsewhere, the club that lost the player is eligible for Draft pick compensation the following year.
Meanwhile, any team that signs a player who has rejected a qualifying offer is subject to the loss of one or more Draft picks, though a team’s highest first-round pick is exempt from forfeiture. (Players who are unsigned after the start of the MLB Draft in the year that follows the rejection of their qualifying offer are no longer tied to Draft pick compensation and can be signed without their new club needing to forfeit a Draft pick.)
For details on how compensation and penalties are determined for qualified free agents, click here.
