Philadelphia Phillies: MLB’s qualifying offer creates a Didi Gregorius dilemma

The Philadelphia Phillies might not extend a qualifying offer to Didi Gregorius.

The decision to sign shortstop Didi Gregorius turned out to be a really good one, for both the Philadelphia Phillies and Gregorius himself. The longtime New York Yankee effectively “bet on himself”, taking a one-year deal as opposed to looking for something longer, with the goal to secure a larger payday in the future.

Gregorius recorded an .827 OPS (the second highest of his career), and led the Phillies in total RBIs. Needless to say, the Dutch native did his part in making sure he sees some serious cash on the open market this upcoming winter.

The Philadelphia Phillies would obviously like to see Gregorius back at Citizens Bank Park come 2021, seeing as he ended up being one of their most productive overall hitters. He ended up seeing some time at the cleanup position down the stretch during JT Realmuto‘s injury, and he proved to be an absolute force batting behind the likes of Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm.

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However, with a potential massive contract heading Realmuto’s way this offseason, it was unlikely that the Phillies were going to be knocking on Gregorius’ door with a multi-year, big money extension. Instead, one of the best ways the team could keep Gregorius around for the short term was by offering him a “qualifying offer”, a one-year extension that sees its value decided on by the MLB itself.

Last year’s qualifying offer was $17.8 million, this year’s number raised all the way up to $18.9 million.

Considering the fact that teams all over the league are expecting to see revenue loss due to COVID-19, and Phillies owner John Middleton has already publicly expressed not wanting to spend big this offseason, that slight increase might be enough to take that option off the table for the Phillis in their pursuit for Gregorius.

The 30 year old shortstop would almost definitely accept the before mentioned $18.9 million qualifying offer, unless he’s really sold on landing a longterm deal this upcoming offseason. If Gregorius were to refuse the QO, the Philadelphia Phillies would at least be rewarded with a compensatory draft pick in return.

The dilemma however, is whether Phillis management even wants to risk handing out said QO to Gregorius, especially if they don’t actually value him at close to $19 million. It’s unknown just how involved they’ll be on Realmuto this winter, or if they’ve pivoted their attention to someone like Trevor Bauer or George Springer, but handing out close to $20 million to Gregorius could ultimately be something they’re not willing to risk.

Personally, I would hand Gregorius the QO no questions asked. He was an absolute joy to watch play, both offensively and defensively, and his production at the plate would be sorely missed should he leave. I would go as far as trying to lock him up for 2-3 years if possible. However, with an owner pressed on lowering his payroll, and no clear picture on who’s in charge in the front office, Gregorius could be yet another player the Phillies see walk out their building this upcoming offseason.