The Toronto Blue Jays have announced that they have extended a $15.8 million qualifying offer to starting pitcher Marco Estrada.
The Toronto Blue Jays have extended a qualifying offer to RHP Marco Estrada. pic.twitter.com/WZCaUWqIFs
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) November 6, 2015
Extending a qualifying offer to Estrada came as a bit of a surprise. The 31-year-old Estrada has not had an attractive eight-year career. After seven years in the National League, Estrada got his first taste of American League baseball. While he did reach a career-high 13 wins and career-best 3.13 ERA, he also received a tremendous amount of run support from his high-powered Blue Jays offense.
Estrada will likely reject the qualifying offer, even if it may scare other teams away from him in free agency.