Anderson, Wieters accept qualifying offers

Brett Anderson of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles have accepted the qualifying offers they were tendered by their respective teams.  The pair, along with Houston Astros outfielder Colby Rasmus, are the first players to accept the qualifying offer rather than reject it and become a free agent.

Twenty players were tendered qualifying offers, and aside from those three, Marco Estrada of the Blue Jays also avoided free agency, though Estrada did so by virtue of signing a contract extension with Toronto prior to having to make a decision.  Estrada signed a two year, $26 million deal to stay in Toronto.

Wieters, Anderson and Rasmus will each make $15.8 million in 2016, and then will be eligible for free agency (and eligible to receive another qualifying offer) after the 2016 campaign.

As discussed earlier today, Yovani Gallardo of the Rangers declined the qualifying offer, and the Rangers will get a compensatory supplemental first round pick, as a result.

The other 15 free agents who declined the qualifying offer are:

Chris Davis

Wei-Yen Chen

Alex Gordon

Zack Greinke

Jordan Zimmerman

Justin Upton

Ian Kennedy

Ian Desmond

Dexter Fowler

Jason Heyward

Howie Kendrick

Hisashi Iwakuma

Jeff Samardzija

Daniel Murphy

John Lackey