Yankee Go 0-3 in Qualifying Offers

The Yankees were sincerely hoping that Hiroki Kuroda would accept the Yankees' $13.3MM qualifying offer and avoid free agency. They weren't so lucky. Kuroda, along with Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano rejected the Yankees one year offering, meaning the Yankees will get compensation if any of the three signs with another team.

Everyone knew that Swisher and Soriano would turn down the offer, but the Yankees hoped the raise from last year's $10MM salary would be enough to get Kuroda to return. Instead, Kuroda will hit the open market and there is still the possibility he could return to Japan as well.

The Red Sox are, of course, one of the teams that have an interest in Kuroda, who is also being sought by his old LA Dodgers squad.

The Yankees will have a tougher time trying to get Soriano to return since he will be looking for a large, multi-year deal based on his 2012 season as closer.  Swisher doesn't fit into the Yankees plans any more - meaning they know how productive he is during the regular season and how flat out horrible he is in the post-season.

Yankees Offer Up a Trio of Qualifying Offers

"Should I stay or should I go now?"

$13.3MM is the magic number this year in determining if Major League Baseball teams will receive compensation if they lose players to free agency.

As part of the new collective bargaining agreement agreed upon in 2011, type 'A' and 'B' free agency was eliminated. In it's stead, the onus is now on teams to make guaranteed one-year contract offers equal to the average salary of the league's top 125 players to any of their free agents in attempt to gain compensation for lost assets. The number for 2013 is the aforementioned $13.3MM.

The onus then switches over to the player to either accept or reject the offer. If an offer is rejected, the player's 2012 team will get compensation if the player signs with a new team for 2013. If the player accepts, the team has the player for one year, whether they really wanted that player or not.

The Yankees made three of the offers today and hope that just two of them are accepted. In reality, at most one will be accepted, which means the Yankees could receive two compensatory picks.

The offers were made to Nick Swisher (I'll guesstimate 10% chance at acceptance), Rafael Soriano (0%), and Hiroki Kuroda (75% - 100% chance if he wishes to play another year in the US). The Yankees do not want Swisher to accept and he will in all likelihood oblige since he is looking for a multi-year free agent deal.

The Yankees would be doing cartwheels down River Ave. if Soriano accepted the offer, but since he just opted out of his current contract with the Yankees, that's not happening either. Soriano's agent, Scott Boras, is said to be looking for a four-year deal based on the 42 saves Soriano compiled in 2012.

And then there's Kuroda, who made $10MM with the Yankees this past season and would probably jump at the increase if he doesn't retire. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports had already reported that Kuroda would be "fine" with a one year deal.

No offers were made to free agents Andy Pettitte, Russell Martin, Raul Ibanez, and Ichiro Suzuki

Players have until 5 p.m. EST on November 9, which coincides with the last day of the general managers' meetings, to make their decision. Exclusive negotiating rights with a team's own free agents ends tonight, five days after the end of the World Series.