The 2025‑26 MLB offseason took an unusual turn as four established players opted to accept the league’s qualifying offer rather than test unrestricted free agency. Pitchers Shota Imanaga and Brandon Woodruff, outfielder Trent Grisham and infielder Gleyber Torres all signed on the dotted line, locking in one‑year contracts worth $22.025 million each for 2026.
The qualifying offer, a mechanism instituted in 2012, grants a player the option of a one‑year deal at a fixed value (in this case $22.025 million) in exchange for foregoing unrestricted free agency that year. For teams, the offer acts as a form of protection: if the player declines and signs elsewhere, the original team may receive draft‑pick compensation. In this round, the other nine players who received offers declined them, making their teams eligible for compensation if they depart.
Imanaga, at age 32, accepted the offer after posting a 9‑8 record and 3.73 ERA in 2025, earning $13.25 million the prior year. Though he delivered solid numbers, he encountered a late‑season decline. Woodruff, also 32, returned from shoulder surgery and made just 12 appearances before a lat injury sidelined him from the postseason. For both pitchers, the offer presents a relatively safe path forward: a guaranteed salary amid the uncertainty of the market.
Grisham delivered a career‑best 34 home runs with the Yankees, producing an .811 OPS and earning the qualifying offer. Torres, in his first season with the Tigers, posted a .256 average, 16 homers and 74 RBIs. Their decisions to accept reflect strategic calculation: a one‑year high salary now may outweigh the risk of a multi‑year attempt amid wage and labor questions ahead in MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement.
With only 18 players in the program’s history choosing the qualifying offer, these four join a small club. Their decisions help shape the early contours of free‑agency strategy in a market clouded by potential labor disruption and contracting risk. Teams now await how many of the remaining offer‑recipients will decline and test the open market — and how the compensation rules will influence team behavior and player mobility in the coming offseason.