Taxes benefits .... Lets say they go to Chris and say we are offering to defer $7 million dollars. And I'm not a tax guy but, I assume the more you make the more taxes you pay. Davis has made all of the money he is going to make in professional baseball with this contract.
So he pays taxes this year on 10 million and then add 1.5 million to his 3.5 per year payments after he is retired or playing independent baseball.
The situation is fundamentally different. These were offers to players who are negotiating new contracts for 2021. They declined, as is their right. Davis has a contract, though, what incentive does he have to agree?