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There where 14 players offered qualifying offers by their teams to start the Major League Baseball off season. yesterday was the deadline for those players to make their decision on if they’d accept or turn down the $19.65 million-dollar qualifying offer and try their luck on the free agent market.

Out of those 14 players 12 of them decided to turn down the qualifying offer. Joc Pedersen decided to accept the qualifying offer from the San Francisco Giants and Martin Perez accepted the qualifying offer from the Texas Rangers.

The 12 players that turned down qualifying offers where Aaron Judge, Willson Contreras, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson, Jacob deGroom, Carlos Rodon, Brandon Nimmo, Anthony Rizzo, Chris Bassitt, Nathan Eovadi and Tyler Anderson.

With maybe the exception of maybe Nimmo and Anderson it’s no surprise that the qualifying offers were turned down. Now, Anderson has already signed a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels. Anderson will receive $39 million dollars over those three years.

Rizzo was another player who turned down the qualifying offer, but he has already re-signed with the New York Yankees. Rizzo signed a two-year $40 million dollar deal to remain with the Yankees and the contract also has a third-year option.

Now if one of these players signs with a different team than the one that extended them the qualifying offer their former team stand to receive draft compensation if that player signs elsewhere. The value of the compensatory pick depends on a team’s status as a revenue sharing recipient and/or whether they paid the luxury tax in 2022.

So, as it sits right now the Los Angeles Dodgers will receive some type of compensation for Anderson signing with the Angels, but it’s unclear as of right now what they’ll receive.

Yesterday we also saw Teoscar Hernandez traded by the Toronto Blue Jays. Hernandez is headed to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for right-handed reliever Erik Swanson and pitching prospect Adam Macko who’s left-handed. There were some rumors that the mariners had been shopping outfielder Jesse Winker and you have to wonder with the acquisition of Hernandez if will now see Winker dealt.

With the winter meetings going on it will be interesting to see if we have any more trades get done or if it will just be some groundwork being laid for moves that will happen a little later.

Now the Los Angeles Rams are the defending Super Bowl champions, but currently with a 3-6 record the Rams find themselves in the cellar of the NFC West and there’s a very good chance that they won’t make to playoffs and have a chance to defend their Super Bowl title.

Injuries have been part of the Rams struggles as Matthew Stafford just missed last week’s game and it was announced yesterday that their top wide receiver Cooper Kupp would need surgery on his ankle that he injured in Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals 27-10 and will be placed on Injured Reserve.

It seems as though the Rams’ running game has just disappeared and even their head coach Sean McVay has said that he feels like it’s a waste for him to call a running play, but there are a lot of other teams that are having success running the football.

Los Angeles’ leading rusher is Darrell Henderson with 274 yards in 9 games. Coming into the season it appeared as though Cam Akers would have a bigger role running the football, but there were quite a few rumors that the Rams wanted to trade him at the deadline, and he sat out two games as they tried to find a deal. In the 7 games he’s played Akers has gained 176 yards, but averages just 2.8 yards per rushing attempt.

Stafford is currently in the NFL’s concussion protocol, but reports are that he’ll be cleared to play this week in the Rams game against the New Orleans Saints. Even if Stafford does return you have to wonder if it’s too late for the Rams. After the game against the Saints, they have a tough match up against the Kansas City Chiefs and then a division match up against the surprising Seattle Seahawks.

So, jump in here and let me know what you think. First off is there a player who didn’t accept the qualifying offer that you think should’ve? Then let me know if you think that the Rams can somehow find a way to get into the playoffs and have a chance to defend their Super Bowl title.

As always remember to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.