*  *  *  UPDATE November 14, 2016 2:00 pm PT – Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen have declined their Qualifying Offers.  *  *  *  

It goes without saying that $17.2 million is a ton of money, more than most of us could spend in a lifetime. Yet this is what Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner and closer Kenley Jansen will be walking away from in a matter of hours (if not minutes) when they both reject the Dodgers’ $17.2 million qualifying offer (QO).

Why on earth would they or any of the eight other qualifying offer-eligible MLB players do such a thing? Because that insane one-year salary offered to each of them will pale in comparison to what they might receive over the course of a multi-year contract.

Here are the 10 MLB players who have received qualifying offers:

(Note: Several of these guys have already rejected qualifying offers, for which the deadline to do so is today at 2:00 pm PT).

• Mark Trumbo (Orioles)
• Jeremy Hellickson (Phillies)
• Yoenis Cespedes (Mets)
• Neil Walker (Mets)
• Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays)
• Jose Bautista (Blue Jays)
• Ian Desmond (Rangers)
• Dexter Fowler (Cubs)
• Kenley Jansen (Dodgers)
• Justin Turner (Dodgers)

Although every Dodger fan would love to see the Dodgers re-sign both Turner and  Jansen, chances are they will land only one of them … maybe. (Photo credit – TBS and Ron Cervenka)

Granted, most of these guys will not receive multi-year free agent contracts that will carry an average annual value (AAV) of $17.2 million, but it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to figure out that all of these guys are looking at free agent deals longer than two years, which would drop that AAV down to $8.6 million and exponentially thereafter. In simple terms, the only intelligent reason why anyone would accent that one-year/$17.2 million QO would be because they were so terrible this past season (or didn’t play much due to injuries) that they would hope to have a better year in 2017 to increasing their free agent value next off-season. That being said, if they were that terrible (or a continuing injury risk), why would any team even make them a qualifying offer?

A team making a pending free agent a qualifying offer nor a pending free agent declining it is in no way a sign of disrespect to either, it is merely a matter of procedure as set forth in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement and an indication that a team is actually very interested in re-signing that player. The caveat is that should that player sign with a team other than the one making the QO, their former team receives a compensatory first-round draft from the signing team, who forfeits their first-round pick. (Note: The exception to this is if the QO player was acquired during the just-concluded season, for which the new signing team does not lose their first-round draft pick).

Although there is every indication that the Dodgers are trying very hard to re-sign Turner and Jansen (especially Turner), there have already been several other teams that have expressed significant interest in both (especially Jansen).

In other words, get in, sit down, strap up and hang on, because it’s going to be a wild ride from here on out.

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UPDATE November 14, 2016 2:00 pm PT – Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen have declined their Qualifying Offers.

(Update: Phillies RHP Jeremy Hellickson and Mets second baseman are the only two to accepted their qualifying offers).

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