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Baseball’s hot stove is firing up. The first real flurry of free agent moves hit Tuesday as the deadline passed for players offered a qualifying offer to accept or decline those deals.
This is a bit of a procedural move, one that sees most of the big names decline one-year deals worth $19.65 million and hit the open market. From there, any team signing a player who declined these offers will sacrifice a draft pick to do so, and the teams that made the offers will stand to gain a pick. A couple players did accept, though, and two players who didn’t take them found multiyear agreements. Let’s break down all the MLB free agent deals, asking whether they made sense for the team and the player.
New York Yankees re-sign first baseman Anthony Rizzo to 2-year, $40 million deal with club option for 2025
There was reportedly a race between American League powers — the Houston Astros and the Yankees — for Rizzo’s services. With a one-year qualifying offer in hand, Rizzo stayed in his newfound home in the Bronx on a multiyear deal. It’s $17 million per year, with an option for the third year that comes with a guaranteed $6 million buyout.
Los Angeles Angels sign starting pitcher Tyler Anderson to 3-year, $39 million deal
After breaking out with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022, left-handed changeup artist Tyler Anderson leapt at a three-year offer from the Angels — nearby in geography and … not anywhere close in terms of contention or pitching development know-how.
After seeing pop-up relievers — Robert Suarez and Rafael Montero — sign for similar or greater sums, it’s surprising a starter like Anderson, coming off an outstanding season with a 2.57 ERA, signed so quickly for a relatively modest amount.
San Francisco Giants re-sign outfielder Joc Pederson on 1-year, $19.65 million qualifying offer
The best platoon player in baseball is returning to the Giants. His first year in the Bay Area produced a career year as Gabe Kapler and company put him in a good position to succeed. But this isn’t a simple matter of facing fewer lefties. He boosted his average exit velocity and hard-hit rate to career-best levels, and turned in a .274/.353/.521 slash line, 44% better than a league average hitter per the park-adjusted wRC+ metric.
Texas Rangers re-sign starting pitcher Martin Perez on 1-year, $19.65 million qualifying offer
The veteran left-handed starter has found a home in Texas. The definition of a meh back-end starter for most of his career, Perez returned to Texas after three seasons away and posted a career-best year, with a 2.89 ERA in 32 starts. Everyone was happy!
So happy the Rangers, amid an attempt at returning to contention, declined to deal him at the deadline and then gave him the qualifying offer to see if he wants to try to run it back. Answer: He does.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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