All nine players reject $17.4M qualifying offers made by teams

All nine $17.4 million qualifying offers made by teams earlier this month were rejected Thursday, the Major League Baseball Players Association announced.

The deadline for the players -- the Kansas City Royals' Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain;the Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta and Wade Davis;the Tampa Bay Rays' Alex Cobb;the Colorado Rockies' Greg Holland;the St. Louis Cardinals' Lance Lynn; and the Cleveland Indians' Carlos Santana -- to accept the $17.4 million offers was Thursday at 5 p.m. ET.

By making the offers, the six teams ensure they will get an extra draft pick as compensation if the players sign with a new team.

Any new club signing one of the nine players would lose at least one draft selection (outside of its highest first-round selection) and possibly international bonus pool money depending on the financial status of the franchise.

Only five players have accepted a qualifying offer since the system was instituted after the 2012 season. In 2015, Colby Rasmus (from the Houston Astros), Matt Wieters (from the Baltimore Orioles) and Brett Anderson (from the Los Angeles Dodgers) accepted qualifying offers worth $15.8 million, while Neil Walker (from the New York Mets) and Jeremy Hellickson (from the Philadelphia Phillies) accepted $17.2 million offers last year.