The Yankees have made their move on the qualifying offer, and this time there’s no mystery hanging over the process.
David Bednar got the QO, which gives him two weeks to decide whether the one-year, $23.15 million salary for 2027 is the right call. Jazz Chisholm Jr., on the other hand, was passed over and is now likely headed for free agency.
For the Yankees, Bednar is the cleaner part of the equation. He’s a proven late-inning reliever, and the price is easy enough to justify for a single season.
If he accepts, they get their closer. If he turns it down, they can reshape the bullpen and at least come away with a draft pick.
There’s also a more interesting path still on the table: an extension. Bednar may not love the uncertainty of the qualifying offer, and the Yankees may not love paying top-of-market closer money for just one year. That opens the door to something longer, maybe a three-year deal in the $17-$18 million range annually.
That would make sense for both sides. Bednar is the kind of reliever who should hold up well because of his pitch mix, and the Yankees can’t keep living through offseasons with major turnover.
But Bednar is only one piece of the bigger problem.
The rest of the qualifying-offer market could make life much tougher for the Yankees if they go shopping for help. Adrian Morejon, Brandon Lowe, Ryan Jeffers and Seiya Suzuki are all among the players who received the QO, which means any team signing them has to deal with draft-pick compensation. That matters for a Yankees team trying to plug holes without making the cost spiral.
Need bullpen help? Morejon is now attached to draft-pick compensation.
Looking for a second baseman? Lowe comes with the same issue.
Want a catcher who can pair with Austin Wells? Jeffers is in that group too.
Trying to solve the outfield in a creative way? Suzuki is there as well, but the price is no longer just dollars.
The Yankees have signed qualifying-offer players before, but those cases came with much bigger commitments. The franchise has done it six times: Max Fried in 2024, Carlos Rodón in 2022, Gerrit Cole in 2019, and Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann in 2013. Every one of those deals ran at least three years, and five of the six lasted five years or longer.
That’s the kind of lane Morejon fits best from that group. The others are older veterans who can help, sure, but they don’t scream long-term investment. And that’s where the Yankees are left again: with options, but plenty of obstacles attached to nearly all of them.
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