Everyone wanted Grant Balfour to succeed. He was the conquering hero returning home to the Tampa Bay Rays after he had ascended to become a closer with the Oakland Athletics. The Baltimore Orioles were about to sign him before an issue with his physical got in the way, and the Rays had a chance to rub that in their division rivals’ faces. Then, even after last year, he could have been the next Rays reclamation project, the next to defy the odds to get back in track.
Unfortunately, a solid performance down the stretch in 2014 and the tribute to his father who passed away will be the only positives that we can take from Grant Balfour’s Rays tenure.