Colorado Rockies/Tampa Bay Rays Trade

[PlayerX3D]

It would depend if Kemp's production was worth $60M a year. If so, I would say the same argument applies here (I am of the belief that Pujol's production is in line with his salary).

Also, by your logic, the Rockies would do just as well if they had put Pujols on waivers (under the assumption that his trade value is negligible). I understand his salary is essentially market value, but since he is not available and that there are few players of a similar caliber, there is now a premium on his services. It would be a different story if it was an average player, where there are numerous alternatives a GM could go after.

I'd compare this to Super Bowl tickets, under the assumption that ticket prices are not artificially constrained. You can buy them at face value for $1000, but scalpers can sell them for 3x that amount. Why? Because there is a limited supply of tickets, so the current ticketholder is at an advantage.

That's not the case Kenny.  There is no "face value" here.  He was competitively bid upon.  This would be a situation where the Super Bowl tickets were bid upon by every party who may have been interested in attending the game.

This is not a situation where we came into this league with a deal already in place.

And it is completely illogical to trade for Kemp after he signs.  Why wouldn't you simply outbid the top bidder?  I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

[PlayerX3D]

Lets just kill this deal and the conversation.  I'm just standing by the fact that when a player has a contract that is at market value and I'm willing to eat the contract of a terrible contract (Young) and a market value contract (Pujols) there should not be much paid to transfer the payments of those contracts.  It certainly shouldn't have been vetoed and was done under the same pretenses for the reason that my first deal in this league was killed:

Morneau and Scott Baker at $20M for Starlin Marte et al.  Was vetoed on name power and would have wound up being a killing for the other team that would have had the rights to a future All Star for 5 years in exchange for overpaid expiring contracts.

It's a flawed premise.  There's a reason nobody bid $28.5M for 5 years on Pujols.  Because he's being paid what he should be being paid.  Perhaps too much when you look at his numbers, position, and age.

But lets kill this and move on.

[snbts]

Well, Beau, I may be crazy too.  But I would trade for Kemp possibly after he signs with someone else.  I get to a point where I dont feel comfortable bidding on a player.  Once I feel he has hit my peak or my cap space, I stop bidding.  If I clear some cap space, I may later trade for that player or given the situation I may need those stats.  I may even keep that players salary lower due to me no longer bidding on them.  I may lose some prospects or some MLB talent but depending on the situation, that may make up for the loss.