Dodgers News: Projected Qualifying Offer Value for 2026 Revealed
It's never too early to look at the upcoming MLB offseason...
SEATTLE, WA—While the 2025 Major League Baseball season is hopefully far from over for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it is fast approaching with the offseason officially beginning after the conclusion of the 2025 World Series.
That said, one aspect that must be decided within ten days after the conclusion of the Fall Classic is the annual one-year qualifying offer to eligible free agents.
Players who switched teams during the previous season cannot be tendered a qualifying offer, and those who have ever received one in their career are also ineligible.
The qualifying offer was introduced in MLB free agency in 2012 and continued to be part of the collective bargaining agreement for the 2022-2026 seasons, as negotiated by the league and the Players Association.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the MLB qualifying offer value for the 2026 season is expected to be around $22 million.
The precise amount for the 2026 qualifying offer will be determined in October. It is calculated by averaging the salaries of the league’s top 125 highest-paid players.
As expected, this year’s offer is higher than last year’s $21.05 million.
Remember, the qualifying offer is a one-year contract that teams can extend to their own free agents. A player qualifies if he has been on his current team’s roster throughout the 2025 season and has not received an offer before.
The benefit of the qualifying offer is that if it is made and the player signs elsewhere, the team will receive a compensatory draft pick.
The Dodgers currently lack obvious candidates for a qualifying offer this winter. Last offseason, Teoscar Hernández was the only player to receive one, but he declined it before eventually re-signing with the team on a multi-year deal.
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