"It's not about the money."Have seen several recent stories that pegged the state & local tax hit for Harper's $330M deal with the Phillies at about $17 million, while the tax hit on instead taking SF's offer of $310M would have resulted in state and local taxes of $28M. Given that after taxes (fed, state & local) and payment to his agent he will see less than $180M of that $330M, actually $11M seems like a "real" number that might as least factor into your decision.... For most other players though that get more "modest" contracts, yeah, the amount of their offers are not going to bring taxes much into play...
None of these guys give a shit about their net income. There's very little practical difference between taking home $50 million and $150 million. They only care that the number they sign for is bigger than the other guys. These are very competitive people and that extends to the business side of the game, too. As long as the news stories talk about how Bryce Harper is the $330 million man, he's happy no matter what the state of Pennsylvania takes.