Obviously you have decided nothing is going to sway you from your argument.
I'm done with this discussion. When they made the Happ deal they were transitioning from rebuilding to a "win-now" team. The Happ deal worked out almost perfectly, they received a solid major league asset who they converted into an even better asset and re-signed a year later.
Argue against it all you want. The reality doesn't change.
If Happ was only good in Pittsburgh, how do you explain this season?
And your argument that you can't judge the Happ trade because the signed him as a FA is silly. They had him for a couple of years. He was good, he was okay, at times he was bad. They traded him for a legitimate asset. But clearly, they liked something about him - because they re-signed him a year later.
And your comment about AA's deadline deals being "underwhelming" is hilarious.
AA's entire tenure in Toronto they had one year when they were clearly contending - a year ago (and they weren't really contending, but their numbers suggested they were outperforming their record). And what did he do? Tulo, Hawkins, Price, Revere, Lowe, Pennington, Barney.
The other years they were either rebuilding and he was moving veterans for future assets. Or standing pat until better opportunities opened up (as they eventually did).
