Bichette, Schwarber, Tucker among 137 who become free agents

NEW YORK (AP) — Shortstop Bo Bichette, designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and outfielder Kyle Tucker were among 137 players who became free agents Sunday as baseball's business season started on the day after the World Series.

Third baseman Eugenio Suarez, outfielder Trent Grisham, first basemen Luis Arraez and Josh Naylor, right-handers Dylan Cease and Devin Williams and left-handers Ranger Suarez and Framber Valdez and catcher J.T. Realmuto also were among the players who went free.

They can sign with any team starting Thursday.

About 60 additional players potentially can go free through Thursday, depending on whether team, player and mutual options are exercised.

Among those with player options or opt outs are Boston third baseman Alex Bregman, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Edwin Diaz, New York Yankees outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger, San Diego right-hander Robert Suarez, Detroit right-hander Jack Flaherty and Toronto right-hander Shane Bieber.

Padres right-hander Michael King has a mutual option.

Awaiting decisions on club options are Boston right-hander Lucas Giolito and Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez.

Teams have until Thursday to make $22,025,000 qualifying offers to their former players who became free agents, a figure determined by the average of the top 125 major league contracts this year. Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only 14 of 144 offers have been accepted.

A player can receive a qualifying offer only if he was on a team's roster for the entire season and had not received a qualifying offer previously. Potential free agents ineligible for qualifying offers include Alonso, Bellinger, Bregman, Realmuto and pitcher Nick Martinez.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb