He makes enough money to scare away the poor teams, but he's also something of a bargain compared to what teams could get on the open market, so he would need to go to a rich team with a bounty of prospects. (sbnation.com)
if so we release him, if not he gets a pay cut, but still gets to make more than he would have got on the open market.... (sbnation.com)
I don't know why its so hard to believe, players typically sign for less with their current team than they would get on the open market. (sbnation.com)