Color me surprised. JT Realmuto has declined the Philadelphia Phillies qualifying offer. The Phillies extended an offer to JT Realmuto and declined Didi Gregorius a little over a week ago. It came with a price tag of $18.9 million so obviously JT said no thanks.

This news was expected. MLB Teams have 5 days following the World Series to submit qualifying offers to their own free-agent players. This year’s qualifying offer is $18.9 million. The player then has 10 days to accept or reject the offer. If the player accepts it, he immediately becomes signed for 2021.

JT Realmuto and Didi Gregorius will both hit the free agent market. Welcome to the world of unknowns in Major League Baseball. Free agency has been relatively quiet to date and given the major loss of revenue due to COVID-19 it looks like that any big moves will most likely not happen immediately.

Good luck in free agency Phillies. You’ll need it.