Major League Baseball

Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger among 7 free agents to turn down $20M qualifying offers

Published Nov. 14, 2023 7:24 p.m. ET

Shohei Ohtani was among seven players who turned down $20,325,000 qualifying offers from their former teams Tuesday and remained on the free-agent market to pursue more lucrative contracts.

In addition to Ohtani denying the Los Angeles Angels, others who declined to accept were outfielder Cody Bellinger (Chicago Cubs), pitchers Josh Hader and Blake Snell (San Diego Padres), Aaron Nola (Philadelphia Phillies), Sonny Gray (Minnesota Twins) and third baseman Matt Chapman (Toronto Blue Jays).

By making a qualifying offer — calculated as the average of the top 125 contracts by average annual value — a team would receive an additional selection in next July's amateur draft if a player signs elsewhere before then. A team signing the player could lose one or two draft picks.

Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only 10 of 131 offers have been accepted.

Ohtani heads a free-agent class that also includes starting pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery, along with Nola, Snell, Gray and Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is not attached to draft-pick compensation.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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