I think this is really amazing and counter to what we expect from a millionaire baseball player. It shows that he is the captain of his own life and no signing bonus is going to change that.
The benefits of this are huge! Cost of living is zero and he is not trying to keep up the star image and the costs associated with that. He is putting that $2M and his paychecks away and watching it grow and inevitably when he retires in the next 10 years from baseball he will have a nest egg that will sustain his lifestyle forever.
To paraphrase Sean Connery in Entrapment, what can you do with ($2m + 10 years compound interest) that you can't do with ($2m - 10 years non-lavish living expenses)?
The benefits of this are huge! Cost of living is zero and he is not trying to keep up the star image and the costs associated with that. He is putting that $2M and his paychecks away and watching it grow and inevitably when he retires in the next 10 years from baseball he will have a nest egg that will sustain his lifestyle forever.