Yankees expected to extend $15.3M qualifying offer to David Robertson

The first significant move of what will be a busy offseason for the Yankees comes Monday when the club is expected to extend a qualifying offer to closer David Robertson.

Robertson will have a week to accept or decline the offer, which this year is $15.3 million. He and 120 others in the sport officially became free agents on Thursday.

No free agent to date has accepted a qualifying offer since its origin in 2012, but Robertson might be tempted to become the first. Although he is likely to command a good deal of attention as a free agent -- the righthander is by far the best reliever available -- Robertson is unlikely to get a deal with an average annual value approaching the $15.3 million he would make by accepting the offer.

If Robertson, 29, declines the offer, he and the Yankees still could work out some kind of long-term deal. If he signs elsewhere -- such as with free-spending Detroit, which has had closer issues in recent seasons -- the Yankees will receive a draft pick as compensation.

The Yankees understand that the public relations backlash would be minimal if they turned over closer duties to the popular, relatively inexpensive Dellin Betances, but they also know their bullpen is far superior with Robertson in it.

While the Royals had the best seventh-, eighth- and ninth-inning combination in the sport with Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, the Yankees were right there in their eighth- and ninth-inning combo with Betances setting up Robertson.

Betances, 26, with a fastball that occasionally hit 100 mph and a virtually unhittable curveball that had MLB scouts raving all the way back in spring training, quickly became a fan favorite and posted a 1.40 ERA in 70 appearances. In 90 innings, he struck out 135 and walked 24.

Robertson had the unenviable -- some say impossible -- task of replacing Mariano Rivera, but he was mostly terrific, converting 39 of 44 save opportunities and posting a 3.08 ERA.

"To be a closer in New York's not easy," general manager Brian Cashman said last month. "Clearly we're not used to dealing with it. We had Mariano Rivera for an extended period of time that was just remarkable, so we're not used to wondering who can and who can't."

At this time last season, Cashman was facing queries about Robertson that endured until the start of the regular season.

"The question going into this year was whether Robertson could graduate from the eighth inning to the ninth inning and he graduated with honors, he mastered that," Cashman said. "He's a bona fide closer without question and we're proud that we've produced him. What happens is yet to be determined."

Of the free agents from the Yankees, Robertson is not the only one the club has an interest in retaining. Topping the list: righthander Brandon McCarthy, who was 7-5 with a 2.89 ERA after the Yankees acquired him in July, and infielder Chase Headley, another in-season acquisition whom the club sees as quality insurance for Alex Rodriguez at third and Mark Teixeira at first. Those are just a few of the many issues on Cashman's plate as the offseason begins in full.

"Being in this chair for 17 years, I'd say every winter has got its challenge. I don't feel that this one is any different," Cashman said last month after signing a three-year extension to continue as general manager. "Obviously, we know from our fan base's perspective that we need to do better than we've done for the past two years. I say that for myself as well. I've got to find a way to get our fan base back to enjoying October sooner [rather] than later."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.