For the second straight offseason, the Boston Red Sox have a starting pitcher reaching free agency who is eligible to receive the qualifying offer (QO). Last year, it was Nick Pivetta. Craig Breslow opted to extend Pivetta the QO, which at the time looked like a mistake, but ended up being a stroke of brilliance.
The QO is a one-year offer worth the average of the top 125 highest-paid players in baseball. This season, it has risen to $22.025 million from $21.05 million last season. Players can only be offered it once in their careers, and they must have spent the entire previous season with the same organization, making traded players ineligible.