Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez was the only player to accept his qualifying offer this offseason, taking a one-year, $21 million deal that will keep him out of free agency.

In total, 13 players were made qualifying offers from their teams, with Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Teoscar Hernández, Sean Manaea, Nick Pivetta, Anthony Santander, Luis Severino and Christian Walker all opting to hit free agency.

Players almost always decline the qualifying offer, which in turn allows teams to acquire a compensatory draft pick. There are also some penalties for teams who sign players who declined a qualifying offer that offseason, namely if they exceed the luxury-tax threshold to do so.

Nonetheless, it's generally a formality—as ESPN's Alden González reported, only 14 of the 144 players who have been given a qualifying offer since the system was put in place in 2012 have ever accepted it.

Certainly, a player like Soto—expected to garner a long-term deal in excess of $500 million—was never going to take a qualifying offer. Ditto for players like Bregman, Adames, Alonso, Burnes and Fried, who will all almost assuredly fetch deals that exceed $100 million.

Accepting the $21 million offer made sense for Martinez, however. The 34-year-old had a solid year in 2024, finishing 10-7 with a 3.10 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 116 strikeouts in 142.1 innings across 42 appearances and 16 starts.

Rather than take a multi-year deal that would have assuredly garnered a smaller average annual salary, Martinez took the big payday in 2025, perhaps banking on putting together another strong season that would retain his market value a year from now.

Given that he's trended in a positive direction for three seasons now, it was a justifiable gamble given the lucrative short-term payout.