NEW YORK (AP) — Washington outfielder Bryce Harper and Boston closer Craig Kimbrel were among just seven free agents who received $17.9 million qualifying offers from their former clubs Friday http://www.redsfanproshop.com/authentic-ken-griffey-jersey , when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw agreed to a $93 million, three-year contract rather than test the market.Left-handers Patrick Corbin (Arizona), Dallas Keuchel (Houston) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (Los Angeles Dodgers) also received qualifying offers as did outfielder A.J. Pollock (Diamondbacks) and catcher Yasmani Grandal (Dodgers).Players have until Nov. 12 to accept. If a team makes a qualifying offer to a player who signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former club would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round.Only five of 73 players given qualifying offers have accepted since the process began in 2012.The Chicago Cubs exercised their $20 million option on left-hander Cole Hamels, who went 4-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 12 starts after he was acquired from Texas on July 27. The Cubs traded left-hander Drew Smyly to the Rangers, clearing his $7 million salary from the payroll. That is $1 million more than the Rangers would have owed the Cubs if Hamels’ option had been declined, which would have triggered a $6 million buyout and allowed him to go free.Kershaw terminated a $215 million, seven-year contract that had $65 million remaining at $32 million next year and $33 million in 2020. The new deal calls for a $23 million signing bonus, payable in equal installments on June 30 in each of the next three years, and annual salaries of $23,333,333. He can earn $4 million annually in performance bonuses, in four $1 million increments for 24, 26, 28 and 30 starts, which could raise the deal’s value to $105 million over three years.He also can gain award bonuses of $1.5 million for winning the NL Cy Young Award or $500 Tony Perez Jersey ,000 for finishing second or third in the voting.“There’s been a lot of people saying that I’m in decline or not going to be as good as I once was,” said Kershaw, whose Dodgers lost in the World Series for the second straight year. “I’m looking forward to proving a lot of people wrong with that.”Kershaw, who turns 31 in March, has spent all 11 of his big league seasons with the Dodgers.“It was more valuable to me to just stay here,” he said. “A chance to win every single year, it doesn’t come around like this in LA very often.”Top free agents prefer to seek multiyear contracts, but given the greater priority placed on draft picks in recent years, Ryu and Grandal might face a difficult market and consider accepting the offers.A free agent can be made a qualifying offer only if he has been with the same team continuously since opening day and has never received a qualifying offer before. Because of those rules, Manny Machado and Josh Donaldson were among the players who were ineligible to receive offers. The amount is the average of the top 125 major league contracts this year by average annual value.Harper and Machado are the top players available on the market, though Machado’s value may have been damaged by a rocky postseason in which he hit .227, showed a remarkable lack of hustle and was fined $10,000 for stepping on a first baseman’s foot.Others among the 160 available free agents include right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Charlie Morton, left-handers J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia, relievers Zach Britton, Andrew Miller http://www.redsfanproshop.com/authentic-homer-bailey-jersey , David Robertson and Jeurys Familia, outfielder Michael Brantley, third baseman Mike Moustakas, infielder Daniel Murphy, designated hitter Nelson Cruz and utilityman Marwin Gonzalez.Kershaw was among four players who became free agents and immediately re-signed this week, joined by St. Louis right-hander Adam Wainwright, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner and Dodgers outfielder David Freese.Cleveland is interested in re-signing Brantley but did not want to commit $17.9 million for one year.“We could not have any more respect for any individual than we have for Michael,” general manager Chris Antonetti said. “He’s the guy that epitomizes, as I’ve shared before, all of the things we look for in a player. He’s exceedingly productive on the field. He defines professionalism in the clubhouse, and he’s an extraordinary teammate. The interest and desire is there. What we will have to work through is, can we make the pieces fit?” The St. Louis Cardinals finished July with a 7 ½-game deficit in the NL Central. They were still in the race for a wild card, but after trading outfielder Tommy Pham to Tampa Bay, they didn’t seem like a team that was on the verge of making a serious run at the postseason.Then the Cardinals began playing some of their best baseball of the year.St. Louis is 14-4 this month, and even after a loss to Milwaukee on Sunday, the Cardinals are just four games behind the division-leading Cubs. Philadelphia (68-56) and Colorado (68-56) lead the race for the National League wild cards Barry Larkin Jersey , with Milwaukee (69-57) percentage points behind and St. Louis only a half-game back.The Cardinals took advantage of a soft spot in their schedule, beating up on the Marlins and Royals earlier this month. But over the past week, they also went 5-2 against the Nationals and Brewers. So far in August, St. Louis leads the NL in batting average, on-base percentage and ERA. Matt Carpenter has hit 14 home runs since the All-Star break and leads the NL with 33.It’s been just over a month since the Cardinals fired manager Mike Matheny and replaced him on an interim basis with Mike Shildt. St. Louis has plenty of challenges ahead — its next six games are on the road against the Dodgers and Rockies — but the Cardinals have done enough to climb clearly into contention in the wild race for the NL’s postseason spots.Elsewhere around the majors:RISING STARRonald Acuna Jr. is showing why he was considered one of the game’s top prospects coming into the season. The 20-year-old Atlanta outfielder is hitting .355 with 12 homers and 24 RBIs since the All-Star break. His 1.191 OPS over that span is the best mark in the National League for anyone with more than 60 at-bats.Acuna hit leadoff homers in three straight games before Miami’s Jose Urena hit him with his first pitch Wednesday night.ON A ROLLOakland took two of three from Houston and now trails the Astros by only a game atop the AL West. The Athletics were actually tied for first before dropping the series finale Sunday.On the morning of June 16, the A’s were 34-36 and trailed Houston by 11 ½ games. They were also 11 behind Seattle for the second wild card. Since then, Oakland is 40-14.DOUBLE TROUBLEThe Pittsburgh Pirates made a splash at the trade deadline when they acquired right-hander Chris Archer from Tampa Bay, but they’re nine games out in the NL Central after splitting four games with the Cubs.Pittsburgh allowed only four runs in that series but dropped the first two games by identical 1-0 scores. The Pirates hit into seven double plays in Friday’s game.HIGHLIGHTThe Texas Rangers got out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam with a triple play against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night. Third baseman Jurickson Profar made a diving stop on David Fletcher’s one-hopper and stepped on third for a force play. He also tagged Taylor Ward, the runner who started the play at third, when Ward left the bag. Then Profar threw to second for another force.Some of the Angels’ runners may have been confused, since at first it was hard to tell whether Profar had gloved Fletcher’s grounder on a short hop or caught it on the fly. It was the first time since 1912 that a team pulled off a triple play without the batter being one of the outs.LINE OF THE WEEKJose Bautista hit a grand slam and had seven RBIs for the New York Mets as they routed Philadelphia 24-4 in the opener of a doubleheader Thursday. It was quite a turnabout for the Mets, just over two weeks after they were beaten 25-4 by Washington.