Originally Posted by
sirrealone
My guess is that the Granderson deal was not about salary so much as getting maximum return. Granderson has had problems hitting left handed for a while, especially last year. As a leadoff hitter, his average was unacceptable. I think Dombrowski & Co. thought that these problems might be persistent. He also knew Granderson still had a high reputation [[ie high return in trade value) but that another 'off' year would lower his value much lower than what it is now. He basically saw it as "Granderson had an off year but teams are willing to pay above market value given his performance" and jumped on the deal. The closest equivilent I can come up with is when he traded Jeff Weaver, whose numbers weren't great but had a high value, and got Bonderman, Pena, and Rodney in return. If he would have waited even another year, Weaver would have gotten much less in return.