MLB

Granderson rejects Yankees’ qualifying offer

ORLANDO – Curtis Granderson has turned down the qualifying offer of $14.1 million from the Yankees and become a free agent, as first reported by The Post.

Granderson believes there is a multi-year deal available even though he will turn 33 in March and is coming off a season devastated by injuries. Both Granderson’s injuries were caused by being hit by pitches and are not seen as chronic problems. He is viewed as one of the good guys in the game and he has a power bat at a time when that is in short supply and great demand.

The Yankees still could try to retain Granderson. But there was a sentiment in the organization that he would be good deal on a one-year contract and perhaps not for multiple years. The Yankees probably will look elsewhere, and they like free agent Carlos Beltran.

And it just became a little more palatable to sign Beltran. Because Beltran also will be rejecting a qualifying offer, it means a team signing him – aside from St. Louis – would lose its first-round pick if, like the Yankees, the club had one of the 20 best records in 2013.

But if Granderson signs elsewhere, the Yankees would receive a compensation pick between the first and second rounds. Because a team would lose either a first- or second-round pick to sign Granderson, there had been wonder if he would accept the tender because that could so severely hurt his market value.

However, Nick Swisher (four years, $56 million) and Michael Bourn (four years, $48 million) both signed with the Indians last year after rejecting the qualifying offer, and they could be looked at as a guidepost for what Granderson could get in the market.

The Yankees also tendered qualifying offers to Hiroki Kuroda and Robinson Cano, and both are expected to reject as well.