Pitchers and catchers report this week, but one of the biggest names on the market may take a long to sign.
Nick Pivetta, who turned down a one-year, $21.05 million qualifying offer from the Boston Red Sox, is still a free agent — and could remain for a long time. Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report wrote an article analyzing the best landing spots for the top seven remaining free agents.
Pivetta came in as the second-best free agent left, but he was the only player with no team listed under him. “The MLB Draft now isn’t until mid-July, which complicates things,” wrote Kelly. “But the idea of surrendering draft compensation for a pitcher who has a 4.76 ERA career ERA — even if he has always had good stuff — feels like a stretch. The fact that Pivetta didn’t just accept the one-year, $21.05 million offer looks like quite the mistake right now. … But there’s been little buzz about him this offseason, and it makes you wonder whether he might not have a team until after the All-Star break, when signing him no longer would require giving up anything other than dollars.”
The Red Sox effectively handcuffed any team that might have been interested in Pivetta by utilizing the qualifying offer. However, Pivetta is being punished because of a choice made by the Red Sox.
In retrospect, it’s easy to argue that he should have accepted the qualifying offer, but no 31-year-old pitcher will desire a one-year contract, especially one with a 4.14 ERA in 2024. Pivetta’s market has been quiet this summer, and the Red Sox have clearly established a rotation without him.
However, some players, such as Anthony Santander, Corbin Burnes, and Juan Soto, received qualifying offers from their former teams and signed elsewhere. This makes you wonder how much teams care about forfeiting draft compensation.
