Red Sox Rumors: Boston 'Unlikely' to Sign Any FA Who Received Qualifying Offer

If the Boston Red Sox are going to sign any free agents this offseason, it's doubtful any of the top players available will be on their radar.   

Per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, Red Sox officials are privately saying it is "unlikely" they will sign anyone who received a qualifying offer. 

George Springer, Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto, DJ LeMahieu, Kevin Gausman and Marcus Stroman were the six players who received qualifying offers. 

Gausman and Stroman accepted the one-year tender worth $18.9 million to remain with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, respectively. 

The other four players turned down the offer, making them unrestricted free agents.

Per MLB rules, teams that paid the luxury tax would forfeit a second- and fifth-round draft pick if they sign a free agent who received a qualifying offer to a contract worth at least $50 million. Teams that received revenue sharing would forfeit their third-highest pick, and teams in neither category would forfeit their second-highest selection and $500,000 from their international bonus pool for the next signing period.

Speier noted that some of Boston's reluctance to pursue one of the premier players on the market is tied to its 2021 second-round pick, which is currently projected to be No. 39 overall. 

"All draft picks are calculated risks to some extent. There's no guarantees with any of them,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told Speier. "You can look at 2002 or 2004 to see just how valuable a second-round pick can be in this organization. It's really valuable."

The Red Sox selected Jon Lester No. 57 overall in the 2002 draft and Dustin Pedroia with the 65th pick in the 2004 draft. 

Boston went into rebuild mode last offseason by trading Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The move was also designed to get the Red Sox payroll under the luxury-tax threshold. 

That deal, combined with ace pitcher Chris Sale undergoing Tommy John surgery in March, contributed to the Red Sox finishing the 2020 season last in the American League East with a 24-36 record.