So what if Gardner DOES stay?

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by CrazyCanuck

If we can't get a 3rd I would go with the "let him play out his contract year for us" plan, except I think this bridge may have been burned beyond repair. In hindsight I think the Skins made a mistake by allowing Rod to seek a trade. By showing our hand we took away all of our leverage.

I'd still vote to keep him if we can't get a 3rd, but we might not even be able to afford him (thanks $9MDB).

I agree with you to a certain extent. I'd like to keep him if we can't get a third rounder.

And I do agree we lost leverage in trade negotiations by letting Rod seek a trade. Unfortunately, however, few (if any) teams were going to seek a trade for Gardner. Thus, if you don't want the guy on the team and he doesn't want to be on the team, perhaps the only way to salvage something out of the bad situation is to allow the player to seek a trade. Granted, knowledge of player-team disgruntlement and a desire to seek a trade weakens your bargaining position, but I'm not sure that there's another way to get a draft pick.