McCoy reports today that a deal to ship Graves to Miami fell through “when it became known that Graves’ contract escalated $500,000 this year if traded.”
Not to toot my own horn, and I still don’t know how to search our archives, but I swear I mentioned this the other day. I figured all along it would make him un-tradeable, since the Reds would end up paying more for him not to pitch for them. It’s one thing to acknowledge a sunk cost. It’s another to pay $500k to have your garbage hauled.
That escalator clause had the effect of throwing off the trade market equilibrium for Graves — the Reds would have to receive an “extra-good” prospect to make it worth their extra $500k in cash, but no team would give up an “extra-good” prospect for Danny Graves.
I’m disappointed in myself for not banging this drum harder over the last 10 days, since it apparently turned out to be the deciding factor. I’m really surprised the mainstream media didn’t mention it – I know I originally read it from one of the usual sources last season or off-season.
In the right-hand column, there is a search box that encompasses every Redleg Nation post since the beginning.
It hurts for the Reds to take a money hit like this, but I just don’t see any other way out of the Graves situation.