No player has ever signed a qualifying offer in the three years they’ve been available under baseball’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Greinke, Anderson and Kendrick have seven days to accept or reject the offer.
Greinke will certainly reject the offer after a season in which he set career lows in earned-run average (1.66), WHIP (0.844) and winning percentage (.864), all of which led the major leagues. At 32 years old, Greinke is considered the top free agent right-handed pitcher in baseball.
Kendrick, 32, enters a market with Daniel Murphy and Ben Zobrist also competing for money from multiple teams with an impending need at second base, including the Dodgers. After batting .295 in his first National League season, Kendrick figures to get a significant raise from the four-year, $33.5 million contract he signed prior to the 2012 season — more significant than the qualifying offer provides.
Anderson’s situation is less straightforward.
The 27-year-old left-hander went 10-9 with a 3.69 earned-run average in his first season with the Dodgers. More significantly, he set career highs in starts (31) and innings pitched (180 ⅓) while avoiding the disabled list entirely for the first time since 2009.
That injury history could work against Anderson again if teams consider his streak of good health to be a fluke. Alternately, Anderson could parlay his strong season into a multi-year deal.
Anderson achieved $2.4 million in incentives on top of his $10 million base salary.