136 MLB Players, Including Pete Alonso, Go Free Agent

A significant wave of MLB players, including notable names such as Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Walker Buehler, Max Fried, and Pete Alonso, have entered free agency as of Thursday morning. Alongside them, 64 players have pending options that could make them free agents by the following Monday, after the World Series. Teams and players can begin contract discussions on Monday evening, following the deadline for $21.05 million qualifying offers. Justin Verlander also became a free agent after not meeting the innings requirement to activate a player option with the New York Mets. St. Louis declined options on pitchers Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, and Keynan Middleton, while other players like Lucas Giolito exercised their options to stay with their teams. The Detroit Tigers are notably not losing any players to free agency this offseason, despite former Tigers like Carson Kelly and Jack Flaherty entering free agency with different teams.