Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters accepts qualifying offer

That seems like an absurdly self-evident statement. But when it comes to MLB’s qualifying offer, leaving piles of money on the table has always been the name of the game-until now.

Wieters, Anderson and Rasmus will each make $15.8 million in 2016, and then will be eligible for free agency (and eligible to receive another qualifying offer) after the 2016 campaign. Well north, possibly. For a Baltimore club whose richest contract ever was $85 million (Adam Jones), it was already hard to imagine them ponying up to keep Davis.

Ten teams have protected first round picks, meaning if they sign a QO player, they’ll only lose their next-highest pick. Another in the group, Toronto pitcher Marco Estrada, agreed to a $26 million, two-year contract that was announced just before the 5 p.m. deadline to accept qualifying offers. All four have rejected qualifying offers.

Picks will still be removed from the first round as teams sign players, so the O’s compensation picks will slide up in the draft order accordingly. 500 or worse team in 2016. The majority of players who received the offers were on playoff teams, which puts the O’s ahead of all of those players. Clearly, we’d reached a tipping point.

Something was going to give, and give it did.

A former first-round pick, the 29-year-old Wieters has spent his entire seven-year career with the Orioles.

A free agent after leading the majors in home runs for the second time in three years, Davis is likely looking at a five or six year deal north of $100 million.

Anderson, a 27-year-old left-hander, was 10-9 with a 3.69 ERA. If a few cases, that makes mid-tier free agents (like Rasmus or Ian Kennedy) less appealing to clubs.

Wieters, who will turn 30 in May, is more of a head-scratcher. He underwent reconstructive elbow surgery in 2014 and returned in June of this past season. Baltimore still has several free agents, including slugger Chris Davis and setup-man Darren ODay.“I hope all the guys are back, but one of the main factors in my decision is that I think this team can be competitive regardless of what happens this offseason, ” Wieters said. “Hopefully, God willing, a healthy year would be great”.

Individual motivations aside, one thing is clear: the QO process will never be the same. Why wouldn’t it be? The current collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, 2016, meaning the rules might be rewritten. With Wieters, Boras is using a different approach: Take the $15 million. Heck, the more interesting nugget here may actually be that Boras, not Wieters, accepted a qualifying offer.