With the qualifying offer deadline coming up tomorrow, the Braves' only realistic candidate for the $15.3 million offer, Ervin Santana, will indeed be given the QO, per Mark Bowman.

An industry source said the #Braves have informed Ervin Santana that he'll receive a qualifying offer http://t.co/0mxyY6Q4QI — Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) November 2, 2014

This is the second straight season that Santana will have to make a decision on the QO, as the Kansas City Royals also extended the qualifying offer, which is the average of the top 125 player salaries from the previous season, to Santana last year. Santana ended up signing with the Braves during Spring Training last season on a 1-year, $14.1 million deal.

Santana was a solid option for the Braves in 2014, pitching 196 innings and posting a 3.95 ERA, although his FIP and SIERA suggested than his ERA would say, with those two numbers coming in at 3.39 and 3.63, respectively. Santana, who will turn 32 in December, posted the second-best strikeout rate of his career with the Braves last season, punching out 21.9% of hitters, mostly with a slider that was nearly unhittable at times.

It seemed likely that the Braves would extend the QO to Santana, who has proven to be a workhorse, tossing north of 178 innings each of the past 5 seasons, with ERAs under 4 in four of those five seasons. Santana was, by all accounts, a positive member of the team's clubhouse, and was well-liked by his teammates.

I suspect that Santana will receive multi-year offers from various teams, possibly including the Braves, and that he'll turn down the Braves' qualifying offer. If Santana rejects the qualifying offer and signs with another team before next June's amateur draft, the Braves will receive a compensatory pick for his departure at the end of the draft's first round.

If Santana accepts this offer, however, it may put the Braves in a bit of a financially-hamstrung position. $15 million isn't an insignificant amount of money, and Santana's salary alone would put the projected 2015 payroll at around $95 million, with returning contracts and players taken into consideration (this could change with other free agent signings and trades, however).

Another interesting note with regards to Santana is that teams could feel a bit of trepidation with regards to giving him a multi-year deal due to his high slider usage rate, combined with a previous UCL strain, as well as his age. Ervin isn't old by any means, but a 3 or 4-year deal would extend into his mid-30s. Also, Santana has one of the highest slider usage rates in the Majors (3rd, behind Tyson Ross and Madison Bumgarner in 2014), and consistently uses his slider north of 30% of the time. He had a UCL sprain which sidelined him back in 2009 with the Angels, but hasn't had an issue since.

If I were to guess, I think that Santana will receive a multi-year offer for less average annual value from the Braves, but will receive a better offer from another team and sign elsewhere. I think the Braves made the correct call in offering him the QO, even if there's a bit of risk involved if he accepts. It'll be interesting to see how this process plays out, at any rate.