No qualifying offer from Nationals to Ramos, now a free agent

The Nationals will not extend a qualifying offer to Wilson Ramos before today's 5 p.m. EST deadline, according to a source familiar with the decision, making the rehabbing catcher a free agent who can now sign with any club in baseball.

The decision, which had been expected since Ramos suffered a major knee injury in late September, doesn't prevent him from re-signing with the Nationals this winter. But it both makes his departure more likely and prevents the Nats from receiving any compensation should he sign elsewhere.

The Nationals, like all major league clubs, have until this afternoon to make qualifying offers to any pending free agents. The players then have a week to either accept the offer and return on a one-year, $17.2 million deal or decline it and become a free agent. If a player declines the qualifying offer and signs elsewhere, the original club gets a late first-round draft pick as compensation.

The Nationals wouldn't have had to think twice about extending the qualifying offer to Ramos while he put together the first All-Star season of his career. But when he tore the ACL in his right knee on Sept. 26, the club had to immediately alter its plan.

With Ramos uncertain to be ready to play until perhaps May or June, the Nationals couldn't take the chance he would accept the qualifying offer and then be stuck paying $17.2 million to a catcher trying to come back from his second ACL tear in four years.

Before suffering the injury, Ramos was poised for a big payday this winter, perhaps something in the range of five years and $80 million. His agent, Wil Polidor, still hopes to command that kind of price, but teams will be reluctant to commit that much to a catcher who turns 30 next summer and has dealt with leg injuries in four of the last five seasons.

The Nationals must decide now whether to continue pursuing Ramos on some kind of incentive-laden deal, whether to entrust their catching job to 23-year-old Pedro Severino or whether to explore a free agent market that in addition to Ramos includes Matt Wieters, Alex Avila and Jason Castro.

In addition to Ramos, the Nationals have seven other free agents who beginning Tuesday are free to sign with any other club: Matt Belisle, Sean Burnett, Stephen Drew, Chris Heisey, Mat Latos, Mark Melancon and Marc Rzepczynski.