What is a Non-Tender? Definition and Examples
A non-tender is when an MLB team declines to offer a contract to one of its arbitration-eligible players by the annual tender deadline, instantly making the player a free agent.
Plain-English Definition
A non-tender is a roster mechanic, not a punishment. Every offseason, MLB teams must decide whether to "tender" — offer a contract for the upcoming season — to each arbitration-eligible player on their 40-man roster. If the team chooses not to, the player is non-tendered and becomes an immediate free agent, free to sign with any club, including the original team at a renegotiated price.
The deadline lands in late November (November 22 in 2024 under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement), and the 48 hours surrounding it produce a wave of suddenly-available talent that reshapes the free agent market.
How the Tender Process Works
Arbitration eligibility kicks in after a player accrues three full years of major league service time, or after qualifying as a Super Two between two and three years. At that point, the player and team exchange salary figures, and if they don't agree on a number, an arbitrator picks one — the so-called "file and trial" model. Projected arb salaries are calculated by MLB Trade Rumors and other estimators based on prior salary and the previous season's counting stats (home runs, RBI, and saves still drive arbitration cases more than WAR).
If a team decides the projected salary exceeds the player's expected production, it can:
1. Tender at the projected number and negotiate down or go to a hearing.
2. Trade the player before the deadline.
3. Non-tender — release the player into free agency.
A non-tender does not consume an option year, does not require waivers, and does not refund the team any portion of a prior signing bonus.
Worked Example
Cody Bellinger was non-tendered by the Los Angeles Dodgers in November 2022 with a projected arbitration salary of $18.1 million coming off a –0.7 WAR season. The Dodgers preferred losing him outright to paying $18M for a hitter slashing .210/.265/.389. Bellinger signed with the Chicago Cubs on a one-year, $17.5M deal, hit .307 with 26 home runs, made the All-Star team, and parlayed the bounce-back into a three-year, $80M contract the next winter. The Dodgers' savings helped fund their other offseason moves.
Kyle Schwarber's 2020 non-tender by the Cubs played out similarly: $7M projected, non-tendered, signed with Washington for $10M, then hit 32 home runs in half a season and earned a four-year deal from Philadelphia.
Why It Matters
The non-tender deadline creates a second free agent class every winter — usually 30 to 50 players league-wide. These players are often:
- Coming off a poor or injury-shortened season.
- Productive but expensive relative to internal alternatives.
- Blocked at their position by a younger, cheaper player.
For rebuilding teams, non-tender season is a buy-low playground. For contenders, it's a chance to flip mid-tier veterans into shorter, cheaper deals. The 2023 non-tender class included Brandon Belt, several mid-leverage relievers, and bench bats who signed for half their projected arbitration numbers.
Limitations and Common Misconceptions
A non-tender is not a designation for assignment (DFA) and not the termination of a guaranteed contract. Arb-eligible players have no guaranteed contract until they sign one — that's the entire point of the tender deadline. Players non-tendered retain all accrued service time, so a player with 4.150 service remains at 4.150 when he signs his next deal. He's also not exposed to waivers, because there's no contract to claim.
Non-tenders are also not the same as outrighting, which is the act of removing a player from the 40-man roster to send him to the minors. Outright requires the player to clear waivers; a non-tender bypasses waivers entirely.
Related Terms
In Legends Deck
Legends Deck simulates offseason markets including the November non-tender wave: cards of non-tendered players spike in availability and drop in cost for one in-game cycle, mirroring real-world deal flow. Spotting which arbitration-eligibles your CPU opponents are about to cut — and pre-positioning to claim them at the discount — is a core advanced-mode strategy.