This past week was a weird one for free agent closer Grant Balfour. After getting a two-year, $14 million contract offer from the Baltimore Orioles, the closer watched as the club cited a physical as the reason for reneging on the said contract offer. This puts Balfour bad on the marker but as was reported last night, that’s not going to be the case for very long.
Balfour is already drawing interest from a few teams but right now it looks like the Tampa Bay Rays are the frontrunners to land the closer in a new deal. FOX Sports baseball insider Ken Rosenthal reports that Balfour is drawing more interest from the Rays than any other team at the moment and that could lead to a deal being made relatively soon.
The Rays are in dire need of a closer and Balfour fits the system well. He pitched for the Rays from 2007 until 2010 so he knows the Joe Madden system and can be plugged right in to the closer role he left a few years ago. Nothing is imminent with Balfour and the Rays, but the flirting is going to lead to more contact this weekend and this thing could get wrapped up by the time next week rolls around.