Yankees make $23 million David Bednar qualifying offer decision
This qualifying offer should be less controversial than the last one the Yankees gave out.The club on Monday extended the $23.15 million qualifying offer to closer David Bednar ahead of the 5 p.m.deadline, the first attempt to retain the important bullpen piece entering an offseason in which he should be one of their top priorities.
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.Bednar has until Nov.
17 to accept or reject the one-year offer at a higher average annual value than he is likely to get on the free-agent market, but less overall money.If he declines it, the Yankees can still try to sign him to a contract as a free agent, but have the protection that if he signs with another club, they would receive draft pick compensation.The Yankees did not make the qualifying offer to fellow pending free agent Jazz Chisholm Jr., a year after they gave one to Trent Grisham and he accepted, only to take a step back after a career year in 2025.
Chisholm is coming off a rough season that could result in him signing a pillow contract, making it risky that if the Yankees extended him the qualifying offer (in order to get draft pick compensation), he might accept it.And while Chisholm has plenty of talent, the Yankees were not able to bring it out of him consistently enough, making a split seem inevitable.Bednar, meanwhile, has proven to be valuable, durable and low-maintenance in his year and a half in The Bronx after the Yankees acquired him from the Pirates.
Relievers can be volatile from year to year – even Bednar was demoted to Triple-A early in the 2025 season – but the 32-year-old right-hander may be worth the investment from the Yankees.Across 86 games as a Yankee, Bednar pitched to a 2.39 ERA with 45 saves and 111 strikeouts in 94 innings, while giving up one run in eight playoff appearances.He did not spend a day on the injured list with the team, having avoided an...