Clubs take the risk of a player accepting these offers (which has yet to happen since the process began in 2012) in order to secure Draft pick compensation for players who sign elsewhere. Players will have until Nov. 13 to accept or reject these one-year deals.
After declining Jonathan Broxton's mutual option, the Cardinals had seven players declare for free agency. Five of those -- Broxton, Randy Choate, Carlos Villanueva, Matt Belisle and Mark Reynolds -- are not considered qualifying offer candidates. However, the other two -- Jason Heyward and John Lackey -- represent interesting cases for the Cardinals.