Report: Qualifying offer to jump to $16.7M for 2017

On Nov. 12, 2015, Houston Astros outfielder Colby Rasmus made history when he became the first player ever to accept a qualifying offer, agreeing to a salary of $15.8 million for the 2016 campaign to stay in Houston.

Following in his footsteps were Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters and Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson.

At the end of the 2016 season, that total could rise as ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting the current estimate is that the qualifying offer for MLB free agents will increase from $15.8 million to $16.7 million.

The qualifying-offer system has been around baseball since 2012, and the value of the offer is normally determined by averaging out the salaries of the top-125 highest-paid players in the league from the season prior.

Players who are made qualifying offers have the choice of accepting the deal and earning the salary for the following season or declining it and becoming a free agent.

If the player declines and is signed by a different club, his new team must surrender a top draft pick, unless the club's pick is protected in the draft.

Only players who've spent the entire previous season with their clubs are eligible to be presented with a qualifying offer.

The San Diego Padres were compensated for the losses of Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy with the 24th and 25th picks in this season's draft, while a number of other clubs including the Washington Nationals (for Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Desmond) and St. Louis Cardinals (for Jason Heyward and John Lackey) received compensatory draft selections.