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Soto, Burns, Buehler and Fried are among 136 who will become free agents, with another 64 pending consideration.

Soto, Burns, Buehler and Fried are among 136 who will become free agents, with another 64 pending consideration.

NEW YORK (AP) — Outfielder Juan Soto, pitchers Corbin Burns, Walker Buehler and Max Fried and first baseman Pete Alonso were among the 136 players who became free agents Thursday morning.

Third baseman Alex Bregman, outfielder Anthony Santander and shortstop Willie Adames also remain at large.

By Monday, the fifth day after the World Series, there were still 64 players who had yet to make decisions on options that could become free agents.

Teams and players will be able to begin negotiating contract terms at 5:01 pm EST on Monday, following the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers of $21.05 million to eligible free agents.

Pitcher Justin Verlander is a free agent after failing to pitch 140 innings this year, an amount that would have allowed him to exercise his $35 million conditional player option. If he had exercised his option, the New York Mets would have been obligated to give Houston an additional $17.5 million as part of last year’s deal that sent the three-time Cy Young Award winner back to the Astros.

St. Louis declined the options of three right-handed pitchers: Kyle Gibson ($12 million), Lance Lynn ($10 million) and Keynan Middleton ($6 million). Each will receive a ransom of $1 million.

Milwaukee said a $12 million mutual option was declined for pitcher Wade Miley, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery last May.

Among those with pending club options are Atlanta reliever Marcell Ozuna ($16 million), Yankees third baseman Anthony Rizzo ($17 million) and reliever Luke Weaver ($2.5 million).

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole can opt out of his contract, but the team can void the waiver by adding a $36 million salary for 2029.

Those with player options include pitchers Blake Snell of San Francisco ($30 million, of which $15 million will be deferred), Nick Martinez of Cincinnati ($12 million), Sean Manaea of ​​the New York Mets ” ($13.5 million), Arizona’s Jordan Montgomery ($22.5 million), Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi ($20 million) and Kansas City’s Michael Wacha ($16 million), and first baseman/outfielder Chicago Cubs Cody Bellinger ($27.5 million).

Snell and Flaherty are not eligible for qualifying offers. A free agent can only be given a qualifying offer if he has played continuously for the same team since opening day and has never received a qualifying offer before.

Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only 13 of 131 offers were accepted.

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