Yankees Third Base Target Free of Qualifying Offer

Matt Chapman is now free to explore his options and the New York Yankees can seek to get him into a multi-year deal.

A potential free-agent target for the New York Yankees turned down his qualifying offer and will pursue multi-year offers on the market.

Had Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman accepted the qualifying offer, he would have made a guaranteed $20.325 million for 2024. Instead, he’ll seek a deal that could pay him more than $100 million.

The Yankees could be looking for an upgrade at third base over last year’s options. DJ LeMahieu played 69 of his 136 games at third base last season but he has three years remaining on his deal. He’s still a good enough player to offer the Yankees help in a utility role, as he had experience at first and second base.

Chapman would be an experience upgrade over Oswald Peraza, who played 36 games at third base last season. He can both middle infield positions.

Chapman hits the market as a Top 10 free agent per The Athletic. In 2023 the 30-year-old slashed .240/.330/.424/755 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI while playing 140 games. That .240 batting average matches up with his .240 career batting average for his seven-year career.

He hasn’t matched the 36 home runs he posted with the Oakland Athletics in 2019, which was his only All-Star season and led to him finishing sixth in American League MVP voting. But, he’s hit 27 home runs twice — in 2021 with Oakland and in 2022 with Toronto — along with a 24-homer season in 2018 with the Athletics.

He also brings a quality glove to the hot corner, where he is a three-time AL Gold Glove winner and has 92 defensive runs saved for his career.

Only seven players received the qualifying offer this offseason, and only 13 of the 124 players that have received it since 2012 have accepted it.

Now that Chapman has turned down the qualifying offer the Blue Jays will get some sort of draft compensation once he is signed. That pick could come between the first round and Competitive Balance Round A, after Competitive Balance Round B, which follows the second round, or after the fourth round.