[BillyBall]

I am GM of the Indians and it's 3 days prior to the 2021 trading deadline.

Lindor becomes a FA at the end of the season and I decided to shop him around the league. He is asking for a $43.M per year extension for 10 years which is well beyond our team's ability. He has about $6M left on his current year deal.

Trading difficulty is set to Very Hard and Trading Preference is Neutral.

Some interesting offers came back but there was one that really intrigued me and was a perfect fit going forward. They have offered up an excellent young player in his first MLB year of service at the minimum salary.

The offering team has zero chance of making the playoffs this year and is not especially flush financially currently or projected.

There are only 2 reasons why I could see them possibly making their offer.

1. They think they might be able to sign Lindor to a long term extension before he hits FA. Problem with this is they are not a big market team and are paying a not insignificant price to jump the competition.

2. They could try to flip him for a better return than what they're giving the Indians. They would have 2 days until the deadline to do so.

I just wonder how deep the logic of AI trading gets. In real I can't imagine this offer being made by this team.

I could just ignore this offer as I like to only do realistic trades but if there are valid reasons for them to make it then I would feel differently.

Am I missing something here? I suppose if they kept Lindor for the final 25 home games they might see some increased attendance but not to the tune of $6M.