Qualifying Offer Up Next As Cubs Don’t Trade Willson Contreras

SportsMoney Qualifying Offer Up Next As Cubs Don’t Trade Willson Contreras Phil Rogers Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I’ve covered sports forever, based mostly in Chicago and Dallas. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Aug 3, 2022, 10:22am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – JUNE 07: Willson Contreras #40 of the Chicago Cubs looks on against the . . .

[+] Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 07, 2022 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) Getty Images The Cubs did Willson Contreras no favors by not doing the expected — that is, trading him at Tuesday’s deadline. Because the three-time All-Star catcher remained in place, he is subject to being tagged with a Qualifying Offer as he heads into free agency.

That will cost the team signing him a pick within the first three rounds of next year’s draft, with the exact pick determined by whether the signing team previously exceeded the luxury tax threshold or received a revenue-sharing payment. The qualifying offer is the mean salary of the 125 highest-paid players. It stood at $18.

4 million in 2021, and was offered to 14 players. San Francisco first baseman Brandon Belt was the only player to accept it as his one-year salary for the ’22 season, with the other 13 becoming compensation free agents. Five of those 13 signed deals in excess of $100 million despite costing their signing clubs a draft pick, and three of them re-signed with the teams that offered the pick.

While Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said he weighed the value of a compensation pick against the trade offers he received for Contreras, there’s no guarantee the Cubs will risk paying Contreras almost $20 million to receive a pick after the second or third rounds of the draft. Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Rodon and Jon Gray are among the free agents who were not offered qualifying offers last year. The Players Association has long opposed attaching compensation to free agency.

The current system would have been eliminated had Major League Baseball and the union agreed to an international draft this year but failed to reach an agreement. It was a major surprise the Cubs failed to trade the 30-year-old Contreras, who has posted an . 810 OPS over seven seasons.

Many analysts ranked him as one of the most valuable trade pieces as the deadline approached, and it appeared his value could be increased if the Cubs would agree to attach switch-hitting outfielder Ian Happ, who is eligible for free agency after 2023. MORE FOR YOU WWE Extreme Rules 2021 Results: Winners, News And Notes As Roman Reigns Beats The Demon The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2021: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo Reclaims Top Spot From PSG’s Lionel Messi The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The San Francisco 49ers The Cubs may have lost their best chance to deal Contreras when the San Diego Padres used major trade capital to land Juan Soto and Josh Bell from Washington. It seems Hoyer and general manager Carter Hawkins set an asking price that teams would not meet, and now will play out the string with Contreras.

The Cubs could still sign Contreras to a contract extension. But the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports the team hasn’t made Contreras an offer since 2018. He was left at the back of the line as Tom Ricketts’ ownership group and its front office sorted through the need to sign Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez, and his case failed to gain a sense of urgency even after those three cornerstone players were traded at the deadline last season.

It’s a perplexing situation for Wrigley Field fans, who should be becoming used to perplexing situations. Follow me on Twitter . Phil Rogers Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.