Contract Tendered

Definition

To "tender" a contract to a player is to agree to give a contract for the upcoming season to a player who is under club control (i.e., players who haven't reached the requisite six years of Major League service time to be eligible for free agency) and hasn't yet signed a contract for the upcoming season. Controllable players on the 40-man roster must be tendered contracts by a set deadline or they will be considered "non-tendered," thereby immediately making them free agents.

Contracts must be tendered to both arbitration-eligible and pre-arbitration players, though the latter group has no say in its forthcoming salary. Tendering a contract to an arbitration-eligible player does not mean that the two sides set a specific salary, but rather that they agree to come to terms on a salary between the date of the tender and late February. If the two sides cannot come to terms on a salary or multi-year deal, an arbitration hearing will be held and a panel of arbitrators will determine his salary.

Per the 2022-26 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the tender deadline falls on the last Friday before Thanksgiving each November.