Qualifying offer climbs to record $21.05M, sources say

Major League Baseball's qualifying offer for this offseason will be the highest ever at $21.05 million, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

The qualifying offer is a one-year contract that teams can offer qualified free agents. If the player turns it down and signs with another team, the original team receives various forms of draft pick compensation. Players can be offered the qualifying offer once in their career and need to have played the previous season with one team to qualify. Teams must make their decisions by five days after the World Series ends.

The qualifying offer is calculated as the average of the top 125 salaries in the league. It was $20.325 million last offseason and rises most years.

Last offseason, zero players accepted the qualifying offer. This offseason, there are a number of players extremely likely to receive and turn down the qualifying offer, such as Juan Soto , Pete Alonso , Corbin Burnes , Alex Bregman , Willy Adames and Max Fried .

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty isn't eligible because he was traded this season by the Detroit Tigers , while San Francisco Giants pitcher Blake Snell isn't eligible since he received the qualifying offer last offseason from the San Diego Padres .