[mooby]

It's just my opinion, but it looks like Kirk's agent has really planted the seed that the key to this is patience because it's a win-win any way it goes. He either gets big money to stay here long term, or he gets big money on a 1 year tag, or he goes to free agency and gets big money from another team.

He's just paying us lip service when he talks about being with a winning team as the goal, because he's been here for 6 years and that's more than enough time to decide whether this team has a positive outlook for winning in the future.

I don't think he cares if he's tagged or not, because ultimately he is going to be a big financial winner and if it's not here he will have full control over his choice of suitors. I do think his agent has advised him that it's in his best interest to go to free agency, because then he has full control over his destination. But Kirk doesn't seem to care whether he stays here long term or goes somewhere else long term, only that wherever he does land will provide a good opportunity to him. He doesn't really seem obligated to stay with us.