Mets offseason: Which MLB free agents are worth the qualifying offer penalties?

Sign a player who rejected the qualifying offer and you pay. Who would be worth the penalties?

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Players worth the qualifying offer if paired together: Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes

What pairings could the Mets make with qualifying offer additions? The only one worth losing four draft picks over would be signing Soto and Burnes. This probably won’t happen. But if it did, even at the cost of the penalties, it’s worth it.

Landing Soto doesn’t mean the Mets won’t bring back Alonso. On the contrary, it would be the right move to make as Alonso wouldn’t lose them any draft picks. Burnes would guarantee the Mets are letting at least one of Manaea and Severino walk away. The additional draft pick they would gain is lost but for good reason. What value is a Round 4A draft pick in comparison to having these two on your win-now roster?

Under all circumstances, Soto is a must for the Mets. Burnes, perhaps not so much. The Mets can circumnavigate any additional draft pick losses by re-signing Manaea (the better of the two between he and Severino) and adding Blake Snell if they’re interested in the best free agent starter without the QO attachment. 

A good guess would be that Burnes and Soto aren’t teammates in 2025. And when we consider this year’s free agent class, the directions the Mets can go while diverting from Burnes are more plentiful than if they miss out on Soto. Far too many of the best hitters received the qualifying offer this offseason. There are enough other moves, including trades, for the Mets to add to the rotation.

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