MLB free agency is underway, and it begins with qualifying offers.

Eight teams extended impending free agents the one-year, $23.15 million deal on Monday, which included the Chicago Cubs' offer to Seiya Suzuki. The outfielder now has until Nov. 17 to accept or decline.

A qualifying offer (QO) is the formal first step for teams that wish to receive a compensatory draft pick should they lose the player in free agency.

Seiya Suzuki is Still Headed for the Open Market

Players rarely accept the qualifying offer, and it's highly likely Seiya Suzuki will decline and test the market. Last offseason, Shota Imanaga was an outlier when he accepted the Cubs' one-year, $22.05 million offer. Imanaga is now set to become a free agent again, and the Cubs did not extend him the QO this time around.

After Kyle Tucker signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last offseason, the Cubs received the No. 75 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, which they used to select power-hitting first baseman Myles Bailey out of Florida State University. Notable current MLB stars who were originally compensatory draft picks include Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Matt Olson.

Suzuki is widely regarded as one of the most sought-after free agents this offseason, and the Cubs are going to have to do a lot of negotiating if they want to keep his bat on the North Side of Chicago.

This past season, Suzuki posted the third-best bWAR (5.8) and fWAR (4.5) on the Cubs. He slashed .270/.368/.473 (.841 OPS) with 26 home runs and 96 RBI. He was a Gold Glove Award finalist after making major strides with his defense in right field.

Suzuki will pique the interest of any high-spending team looking for a power bat with plus-defense in the outfield. The Toronto Blue Jays have been rumored to pursue him, for instance.

Per Spotrac, Suzuki is projected to be worth a deal around four years and $109.9 million, with an average annual value (AAV) of $27.5 million. That would make him the second-highest-paid designated hitter in the league after Kyle Schwarber, and the 26th-highest-paid player in MLB overall.

Suzuki's original deal when he signed with the Cubs in 2022 was for five years and $85 million.

That projected number for Suzuki certainly isn't out of the question for the Cubs, who gave Alex Bregman a five-year deal worth $175 million last offseason. The question is whether they are willing to fork over that much money to retain him, or if they pivot elsewhere to spend money on the top-tier pitching that they sorely missed during the 2026 season.

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