Bo Bichette is the first free agent to receive a qualifying offer this winter, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports he’s expected to turn down the one-year deal. The QO is set at $22.025 million for 2026, per the Associated Press, and remains a rarity to accept. Since the system began in 2012, only 14 players have taken it.
Major League Baseball’s tracker confirms Bichette has been tendered the offer ahead of today’s 5 p.m. ET deadline. If he declines and signs elsewhere, Toronto will receive draft-pick compensation, and his new team will forfeit picks according to its luxury-tax status.
The rest of the QO field is coming into focus.
League outlets and projections point to a slate that could include Kyle Schwarber (Phillies), Kyle Tucker (Cubs), Ranger Suarez (Phillies, LHP), Framber Valdez (Astros), Zac Gallen (D-backs), and Edwin Diaz (Mets) among notable names. None are locks until clubs file, but each fits the profile: star-level recent performance, no prior QO, and clear leverage to test the market.
Why it matters: a rejected QO attaches draft compensation and can narrow a player’s market around the margins, but elite or near-elite performers rarely blink. Bichette, coming off a rebound season and a World Series run that boosted his stock, fits that pattern.
Teams have until this 5 p.m. EST afternoon to issue offers; players then have a set window to accept or decline. Clubs losing a qualified free agent gain a compensation pick, while signing clubs lose picks (but never their top first-rounder). For contenders near or over the tax line, that math can sway decisions on the edges.
Nightengale’s note that Bichette is “guaranteed to reject” makes sense after recent reports project he just doubled or tripled his free agent market with his World Series appearance.
With recent precedent and with MLB’s own framing of who typically declines. Either way, the first QO is on the board, and it’s a signal that the top of the market is moving.
