1/23/14

Flash: Mets Attempted to Sign Grant Balfour, Signs with Rays instead


Right handed RP Grant Balfour has signed a 2 year/$12M ($6M AAV) agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Surprisely, according to Ken Rosenthal via twitter, the Mets made an offer to Balfour that was larger than the Rays winning offer. However, after taking into account the tax differences between the two states and the proximity of his home, Balfour decided Tampa Bay was the better fit.

(This should put to rest the notion that the team has reached there salary limit. We now know that there is at least $6M left in the budget for 2014. The next should be, is there an additional $4M and would Stephen Drew accept a deal for only 1 year/$10M.)

3 comments:

Reese Kaplan said...

I disagree with the rationale provided in the article. While proximity to home and taxes were likely part of the decisionmaking process, with Heath Bell at least temporarily anointed closer for the Rays, Balfour probably saw more of a closing opportunity there evolving than would happen in New York where Parnell is "the man" provided he proves to be healthy.

Anonymous said...

^Probably true. The tax implication are a legitimate concern though.

With no state income tax in Florida and New York State's being 8.82% for earners over $2M we're talking about a difference of $1,058,400.

In addition there's also NYC tax of I think 3.82% which is an additional $458,400.

David L. Whitman said...

Maybe he just wanted to play for a contender.