Did the Yankees do the right thing with David Bednar's qualifying offer?

The New York Yankees gave relief pitcher David Bednar a $23.15 million qualifying offer on Monday, and the first reaction in a lot of places was sticker shock. That much money for a reliever? For a team that has not paid a reliever more than $10 million a season since Zack Britton in 2019? It sounds reckless until you look at what the offer actually is.

It is a one-year deal. That is the whole point ... and it is why this was a smart move.

Positives and negatives of Yankees' qualifying offer to David Bednar

If Bednar accepts, the Yankees get their closer back for one season at a big number. That's the worst-case scenario. No, the worst case is not a five-year albatross. It is one expensive year of a 32-year-old who just saved 35 games with a 2.47 ERA and a 2.61 FIP across 69.1 innings, and who has handled New York just fine since arriving from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2025 trade deadline.

If he declines, which most projections expect, the Yankees still come out ahead. They get draft-pick compensation if he signs elsewhere, plus they keep the door open to sign him to a multi-year deal anyway, which is what the projections say he wants (three or four years at $18 million to $20 million a year).

The qualifying offer does not end the relationship. It starts the negotiation with leverage on New York's side.

Let's talk about the obvious objection ... and it is a fair one. After all, didn't the Yankees just live through this? Last year they gave Trent Grisham a qualifying offer. He accepted after a career year in 2025 and then took a step back. That is the ghost hovering over this decision.

However, looking at the stats, Grisham's career year was the outlier in his track record while Bednar's 2026 was the continuation of one. A one-year bet on a proven closer is not the same as a one-year bet on a career year.

There is also the calendar. Major League Baseball's current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and a one-year qualifying offer avoids locking in a long-term reliever contract weeks before a potential lockout and unknown changes to the CBA.

Also, consider the alternative. Without the offer, Bednar walks into a thin relief market with no strings attached while New York is left trying to replace a 35-save closer with a mid-level signing or a trade out of an already shallow farm system.

The Yankees also told the public where their priorities are by what they did not do. They did not give Jazz Chisholm Jr. a qualifying offer. Bednar was the only Yankee to get one, out of just eight across MLB in arguably one of the weakest free-agent classes in a decade. That is a front office saying that the back of the bullpen is the thing it refuses to gamble on in 2027.

So yes, it was smart. The Yankees bought themselves options. It's either a closer for one year at a high price or a draft pick and a cleaner shot at a longer deal ... with no long-term risk either way. In an offseason about to be defined by uncertainty, that is about as good a move as there is.