Ever since the Baltimore Orioles extended qualifying offers to Chris Davis, Wei-Yin Chen, and Matt Wieters last week, fans and the Orioles themselves have been waiting to see what decision Wieters made. However, any team that signs one of the 16 players will forfeit their highest draft pick available as stated in the rules of qualifying offer system. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Wieters said Friday, November 13, 2015, “For a one-year deal, there’s no place more comfortable than playing baseball for the Orioles”.
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Major League Baseball history has been made.
And Wieters’ decision came as somewhat of a surprise, especially since none of the 34 qualifying offers heading into this season were accepted, and the fact that his agent, Scott Boras, typically prefers his players to test the free-agent market. He hit. 267 with eight home runs for Baltimore in 2015 after coming back from Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm.
Earlier on Friday, Anderson was the only player who did not make a choice on accepting or declining, while post players already had a strong idea of their choice, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted. At the plate, thanks to a two-week hot streak at the end of the season, Wieters finished with a. 741 OPS that was just off his career mark (.743).
Wieters also told Ghiroli that taking the qualifying offer represents “a little bit of a different approach”. Two offseasons ago, he kept his clients Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales unsigned until June, when the draft-pick stipulation expired. The impact may not be dramatic-none of these players is likely to remain unsigned past the spring training reporting date for pitchers and catchers in February, as happened to five players, including Nelson Cruz, in 2014-but these players are far enough away from the top of the market that compensation will absolutely be a factor in the offers they receive.
Murphy, despite his impressive postseason for the Mets, is a poor defensive second baseman who has averaged 1.6 bWAR over the last four seasons. Kimbrel, 27, went 4-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 61 appearances last season. That pattern has accelerated in the last three years, resulting in just 5.9 K/9 this past season, due in part to a drop in velocity.
Perhaps that market wasn’t materializing, or perhaps he believes he can do even better than that next year after cashing in for one year and $15.8 million for the 2016 season. He pitched to a solid 3.69 ERA across a career-high 180.1 innings of work. I love this city and I love this team and I love this clubhouse more than anything.
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San Diego Padres right-hander Ian Kennedy turned down the qualifying offer.
