The Baltimore Orioles are close to signing Cliff Floyd, according to this story by Joe Christensen in the Baltimore Sun. It seems the Dodgers don’t want to pay the luxury tax, and signing Floyd would push them over the limit. The Mets also are having a hard time finding the money. The Orioles seem to be the beneificiary, and may try to sign I-Rod also, although the two sides are fairly far apart on money.
It seems that rather than transfering wealth from big market teams to small market teams, the luxury tax is preventing players from signing with some big market teams, making them available to others. The tax may not be keeping the price of free agents down, but it does seem to be distributing talent a little more evenly.