I have little doubt that Sonny Gray will be dealt in the next 100 hours, but that means I believe some team will meet the A’s demands because the A’s will not “cave and settle”. This trade is critical for Oakland because it represents a rare chance to extract truly elite talent to further — maybe even complete — the rebuilding plan.
Here is how I would hope the A’s are approaching negotiations with the 12 or so teams linked, at least at times or in theory, to Gray. The A’s don’t need to use one team’s offer to leverage a deal elsewhere so much as they need to set the bar high enough that once any team meets it the A’s are comfortable pulling the trigger.