Grant Balfour To Rays

[Johnnydollaz89]

The Rays have reached agreement with reliever Grant Balfour, reports Andrew Rickli of SportsReel Boston (via Twitter). The deal is for two years and $12MM, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported (via tweet) that the deal was expected to land in that range.
Of course, the ACES client had an earlier agreement in place with the Orioles for two years and $15MM, which was blown up when Baltimore found issues with the reliever's physical. The Aussie will nevertheless throw in the AL East after agreeing to terms with Tampa. (It is worth noting that the Rays' team doctor was one of those who said there were no issues with Balfour's right shoulder, though the Orioles apparently had other reasons for concern with the medicals.)

MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Leaves Orioles because of medical reasons, screws them over and goes to the Rays.

 

[broncosmitty]

Very interesting.....

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Have to believe this will be a great deal.

When doesn't it work out for rays?

 

[BigDDude]

Have to believe this will be a great deal.

When doesn't it work out for rays?

Elijah Dukes?

Josh Hamilton?

 

[navamind]

Elijah Dukes?

Josh Hamilton?

Roberto Hernandez Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

 

[jdwills126]

I am sure he will be motivated to pitch against the Orioles.

 

[DragonfromTO]

MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Leaves Orioles because of medical reasons, screws them over and goes to the Rays.

How did he "screw them over" when they're the ones that backed out of the contract?

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

How did he "screw them over" when they're the ones that backed out of the contract?

By sticking it to them by signing with a division rival. He'll end up dominating the Orioles, guaranteed.

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

I'm really glad to see the cost of closers coming down. Seems like GMs are finally recognizing that paying top dollar for an arbitrary, meaningless statistic doesn't make sense. You pay based on the quality of the pitcher, not his ability to compile one statistic.

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Leaves Orioles because of medical reasons, screws them over and goes to the Rays.

Uh.... he didn't "leave the Orioles". They refused to sign him. How did he screw them over?

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

By sticking it to them by signing with a division rival. He'll end up dominating the Orioles, guaranteed.

I don't see how that constitutes "screwing them over".

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

I don't see how that constitutes "screwing them over".

That's fine, we just look at things differently. Not saying my opinion is fact, just my opinion.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Elijah Dukes?

Josh Hamilton?

Why did you resource draft picks


On a thread about free agent signings.


NEXT...

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

JAN. 27: Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets some more specifics on the breakdown of Balfour's contract. Balfour's $5MM in 2014 will come in the form of a $1MM signing bonus and a $4MM salary. He will receive an additional $500K if traded, and $2MM is deferred in each year of his contract.

Breakdown of salary.