Each year the MLB determines the value of the qualifying offer by taking the average salary of the top 125 contracts in baseball. No player has ever accepted the lucrative one-year deal, but it's still important because draft pick compensation is tied to those who are extended the offer.
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, this year's qualifying offer will be worth $15.8 million, which is a $500,000 increase from last year's $15.3 million.
Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal also confirmed the speculated number last week.
The MLB will confirm that exact figure early this week, but for now here are a list of definite free-agent candidates eligible (and perhaps more likely than others) to receive the offer:
Arizona Diamondbacks
None
Atlanta Braves
None
Baltimore Orioles
Wei-Yin Chen, SP
Chris Davis, 1B
Matt Wieters, C
Darren O'Day, RP
Boston Red Sox
None
Chicago Cubs
Dexter Fowler, OF
Chicago White Sox
Jeff Samardzija, SP
Cincinnati Reds
None
Cleveland Indians
None
Colorado Rockies
None
Detroit Tigers
Alex Avila, C
Rajai Davis, OF
Alfredo Simon, SP
Houston Astros
Colby Rasmus, OF
Kansas City Royals
Alex Gordon, OF (if he rejects $12.5 million player option)
Los Angeles Angels
David Freese, 3B
Chris Ianetta, C
Los Angeles Dodgers
Brett Anderson, SP
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Zack Greinke, SP (if he opts out of current contract)
Miami Marlins
None
Milwaukee Brewers
None
Minnesota Twins
Torii Hunter, OF
Mike Pelfrey, SP
New York Mets
Bartolo Colon, SP
Daniel Murphy, 2B (much more likely than Colon)
New York Yankees
None
Oakland Athletics
None
Philadelphia Phillies
None
Pittsburgh Pirates
None (A.J. Burnett would, but he plans to retire)
San Diego Padres
Ian Kennedy, SP
Justin Upton, OF
San Francisco Giants
None (they plan to work out a deal with Tim Lincecum while Tim Hudson plans to retire)
Seattle Mariners
Hisashi Iwakuma, SP
St. Louis Cardinals
Jason Heyward, OF
John Lackey, SP
Tampa Bay Rays
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Texas Rangers
Yovani Gallardo, SP
Colby Lewis, SP
Toronto Blue Jays
Dioner Navarro, C
Marco Estrada, SP
Mark Buehrle, SP
Washington Nationals
Denard Span, OF
Doug Fister, SP
Jordan Zimmermann, SP
Ian Desmond, SS
*Teams can only extend one qualifying offer and it must be to a player who has been with the club for the entire 2015 season, meaning those acquired at the trade deadline are ineligible to receive the one-year deal.
*If the player declines the offer and opts to sign elsewhere, the club that offered him the QO will get a first-round draft pick from the team that signed him (unless it's a top-10 pick).
