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Ohtani headlines 130-player MLB free agent class

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NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Aaron Nola were among the 130 players who became free agents Thursday as baseball’s business season began the day following the Texas Rangers’ first World Series title.

Max Muncy, Joe Jiménez and Colin Rea gave up a chance to go free and agreed to new contracts with their teams.

That free agent market also includes Sonny Gray, Josh Hader, Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler and J.D. Martinez.

Minnesota prevented outfielder Max Kepler and infielder Jorge Polanco from going free, exercising a $10 million option on Kepler and and $10.5 million option on Polanco. Each would have been owed a $1 million buyout had the option been declined.

At the start of the day, 61 additional players had the potential to go free by Monday, depending on decisions on options and opt outs.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: MLB player salaries and payrolls for every major league team

Players may start negotiating with any team at 5 p.m. EST Monday, also the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers. Players may receive a qualifying offer if they spent the entire season with the team and have not previously received a qualifying offer. The amount is the average of the top 125 contracts by average annual value.

This year’s offer price is $20,625,000, up from $19.65 million last year.

Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and 10 of 124 offers have been accepted. Among the 14 players given offers last year, the only players to accept were outfielder Joc Pederson with San Francisco and left-hander Martín Pérez with Texas.

Rather than go free, Muncy agreed to a $24 million, two-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jiménez agreed to a $26 million, three-year contract with Atlanta and Rea got a $4.5 million, one-year contract with Milwaukee. The Brewers declined a $7.25 million option on left-hander Andrew Chafin and a $2.5 million option on left-hander Justin Wilson. They owe buyouts of $750,000 to Chafin and $150,000 to Wilson.

Washington declined a $3.3 million option on outfielder Victor Robles, who would be eligible for arbitration if tendered a contract.

Arizona Diamondbacks (3): Lourdes Gurriel, Evan Longoria, Tommy Pham 

Atlanta Braves (2): Jesse Chavez, Kevin Pillar 

Baltimore Orioles (5): Jack Flaherty, Adam Frazier, Shintaro Fujinami, Kyle Gibson, Aaron Hicks 

Boston Red Sox (3): Adam Duvall, Adalberto Mondesí, James Paxton 

Chicago Cubs (4): Jeimer Candelario, Tyler Duffey, Michael Fulmer, Shane Greene 

Chicago White Sox (4): Elvis Andrus, Yasmani Grandal, Bryan Shaw, José Ureña 

Cincinnati Reds (2): Harrison Bader, Buck Farmer 

Cleveland Guardians (3): Kole Calhoun, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López 

Colorado Rockies (3): Chase Anderson, Chris Flexen, Brent Suter 

Detroit Tigers (2): Matt Boyd, José Cisnero 

Houston Astros (4): Michael Brantley, Martín Maldonado, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek 

Kansas City Royals (3): Matt M. Duffy, Zack Greinke, Brad Keller 

Los Angeles Angels (5): C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk, Mike Moustakas, Shohei Ohtani, Giovanny Urshela 

Los Angeles Dodgers (12): Ryan Brasier, Kiké Hernández, Jason Heyward, Clayton Kershaw, Jake Marisnick, J.D. Martinez, Shelby Miller, Jimmy Nelson, David Peralta, Amed Rosario, Julio Urías, Kolten Wong 

Miami Marlins (3): Yulieski Gurriel, David Robertson, Joey Wendle 

Milwaukee Brewers (6): Víctor Caratini, Josh Donaldson, Colin Rea*, Darin Ruf, Carlos Santana, Jesse Winker 

Minnesota Twins (8): Joey Gallo, Sonny Gray, Dallas Keuchel, Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle, Emilio Pagán, Donovan Solano, Michael A. Taylor 

New York Mets (1): Carlos Carrasco 

New York Yankees (7): Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Zach McAllister, Keynan Middleton, Frankie Montas, Wandy Peralta, Luis Severino, Luke Weaver 

Oakland A’s (2): Tony Kemp, Trevor May 

Philadelphia Phillies (4): Rhys Hoskins, Craig Kimbrel, Michael Lorenzen, Aaron Nola 

Pittsburgh Pirates (2): Andrew McCutchen, Vincent Velasquez 

St. Louis Cardinals (1): Drew VerHagen  

San Diego Padres (9): Ji-Man Choi, Garrett Cooper, Luis Am. García, Josh Hader, Rich Hill, Drew Pomeranz, Jurickson Profar, Gary Sánchez, Blake Snell 

San Francisco Giants (7): Scott Alexander, John Brebbia, Brandon Crawford, Jake Junis, Joc Pederson, Roberto Pérez, Alex Wood 

Seattle Mariners (3): Teoscar Hernández, Dominic Leone, Tom Murphy 

Tampa Bay Rays (3): Chris Devenski, Jacob Diekman, Robert Stephenson 

Texas Rangers (12): Aroldis Chapman, Mitch Garver, Robbie Grossman, Austin Hedges, Travis Jankowski, Ian Kennedy, Brad Miller, Jordan Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi, Martín Pérez, Will M. Smith, Chris Stratton 

Toronto Blue Jays (6): Brandon Belt, Matt Chapman, Jordan Hicks, Jay Jackson, Kevin Kiermaier, Hyun-Jin Ryu 

Washington Nationals (1): C.J. Edwards 

This post appeared first on USA TODAY