And I've said a hundred times, money doesn't explain this one. Nick is correct with all the things he laid out, this is odd.
The oddest thing about it is that Richards isn't a minimum salary player, not close. Right after the deadline, I put together a quick list of relievers who moved with less salary than Richards. In about 5 minutes I had 30 names.
Why would they get one guy at 2.1m when 3 minimum salary guys would look fantastic right now? It ain't money.
Higher prospect cost, to be sure, but we will never miss top 50 team prospect Jay Harry. (I just jinxed it, multiple TD articles inbound) Couple guys out of the top 30, maybe one top 20, and we are cooking right now.
This one ain't about money, it's quite peculiar, but it ain't about money. Not everything is about the money.