The St. Louis Cardinals were active on Friday, giving qualifying offers to pitcher John Lackey and outfielder Jason Heyward.
On a busy day in the early stages of the MLB offseason, the St. Louis Cardinals did some of their business in regards to players on expiring deals by giving a pair of qualifying offers to two of their key players on Friday morning. Starting their attempt to retain the talent that won them the tough NL Central last season.
The Cardinals have given qualifiers to outfielder Jason Heyward and veteran pitcher John Lackey. Heyward being one of the hottest outfielders in free agency while Lackey was a dependable pitcher for the Cardinals and has a winning pedigree over the course of his career.
Lackey made a base salary of $570,000 last season due to a clause in his contract, making the $15.8 million qualifying offer extremely enticing for the veteran after spending 2015 making well below his market value.
.@Cardinals extend $15.8M qualifying offers to OF Jason Heyward and RHP John Lackey. pic.twitter.com/UE2TZnD1Kq
— MLB (@MLB) November 6, 2015
Expect Heyward to test the open market as he could command a contract well above $15.8 million as one of the most complete outfielders in this year’s free agency class. Meanwhile, the Cardinals could have a good chance of retaining Lackey as he may not hit the $15.8 million threshold from another team given his age and mileage on his arm. Regardless these are two players the Cards will be trying hard to retain as all of baseball will be watching to see what Heyward does as one of the biggest names on the market this winter.