Granderson Turns Down Qualifying Offer From The Yankees

Curtis Granderson has officially turned down a one-year, $14.1 million qualifying offer from the Yankees, as first reported by Joel Sherman of the NY Post via Twitter. Granderson had until 5pm ET Monday to accept or reject the offer, and he will now become a free-agent.

It’s been speculated that he would reject the offer even since it was extended to him last Monday. Granderson is going to test the market, rather than come back to the Yankees on the one-year deal to rebuild his value after an injury filled 2013 season in which he only played 61 games, hitting .229 with 7 homeruns with 15 RBIs.

Granderson has been drawing interest from a handful of teams so far this offseason, including the Red Sox, Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Phillies and Mets have all showed some interest in the slugger that led the majors in homeruns from 2011-2012.

As a power bat, the belief is that Granderson will be able to find a multi-year deal from a team that’s will to give him the years. He’s been said to likely get a deal kind of like the four-year, $54 million that Nick Swisher got from the Indians last offseason.

With Granderson likely out the  door for good, the Yankees will receive a draft pick from the team that signs him. The pick will come from the first round, unless the team that signs him is within the first 10 picks in next June’s draft.

The Yankees will also have the ability to sign another outfielder this winter. At the moment, they have three outfielders under contract for next season — Brett Gardner, Ichiro and Vernon Wells. Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Beltran are two outfielders that have been tied to the Yankees, and both are believed to be near of the top of the interest list for this offseason. Both players were offered qualifying offers from their teams, and would cost the Yankees a draft pick to sign.

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