1 week Ago
What’s more surprising, that the Red Sox extended a qualifying offer to Nick Pivetta, or that he’s expected to decline it? This year’s $21.05 million qualifying offer is nearly triple the right-hander’s 2024 salary -- $7.5 million in his final year of arbitration -- but a multi-year deal would provide more security and a bigger overall payday.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently projected that Pivetta, 31, will land a deal in the ballpark of three years, $63 million. However, free-agency spending is expected to explode this offseason, and Pivetta’s durability and upside could force pitching-hungry teams into a bidding war. In addition to linking Juan Soto and the Red Sox, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Pivetta is “almost certainly” going to turn down the one-year, $21.
05 million qualifying offer in favor of free agency, where a lucrative deal of “at least” three years awaits. The Braves, Cubs, and Orioles are among the teams interested in the right-hander. The Rays, known for transforming pitchers, could also throw their hat in the ring.
Between the qualifying offer’s implementation in 2012 and last year, only 13 of the 131 offers were accepted. Last year, the league went 0-for-7 with qualifying offers. The Red Sox last qualified Nathan Eovaldi and Xander Bogaerts in 2022, with both players opting for free agency instead.
If Pivetta does, in fact, decline the qualifying offer, the Red Sox will receive draft compensation from whichever team signs him. The Red Sox used Bogaerts’s comp pick to select Kristian Campbell, the versatile defender who expanded their top prospect trio known as the “Big Three” (Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kyle Teel) into the “Big Four” this season. The deadline to accept or decline a qualifying offer is Nov.
19 at 4 p.m. ET.
.
