Pardon the overly obvious Thanksgiving reference, but Red Sox President of Baseball Operations
Dave Dombrowski can begin 'talking turkey' with free agents today at 5PM Eastern time. Teams with free agents on their rosters (the Red Sox have nine), must make a "qualifying offer" to players they want to keep by 5PM today. This year, that offer is pegged at $17.4 million. Players then have 10 days to accept or reject the offer—and an accepting player stays with their club and is paid at the qualifying offer level. Players who have been
traded during 2017 (like Red Sox target
J.D. Martinez and Sox reliever
Addison Reed)
do not need to be given a qualifying offer. According to
MassLive.com's
Christopher Smith, despite the fact that Boston did
not go over the $195 million tax threshold,
they would still be penalized for signing a qualifying free agent like
Eric Hosmer (to whom they are most often linked). The Sox—if they signed Hosmer—would have to sacrifice their second-highest pick in the next MLB Draft
and have their international signing bonus pool reduced by $500,000. Stay tuned—things could get interesting by dinnertime.
