Bob Gretz offers up a piece this morning that delivers what I believe is a fairly accurate assessment of the Tony Gonzalez trade request (although Gretz's bold homerism for Carl Peterson is evident in at least one of the answers). He hits on several relevant points regarding the trade so I thought this would be a good starter for discussion this morning. A few highlights are below.
Why are we trading Tony?
The only reason the Chiefs are trying to trade Tony Gonzalez is because he asked them too. Not once, not twice, but several times. He does not want to go through the rebuilding project that the Chiefs are in right now. He wants out. They are just trying to make him happy.
On Carl Peterson giving into trade requests:
Everybody thinks Carl Peterson is such a hard-ass, but here’s another case where he’s a softie for a guy he likes, and he likes Tony G. There are some teams and GMs that would have told Gonzo to take his request and said “don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.”
On getting the best deal for Gonzalez:
That sets a very bad precedent for future players, who can say ‘Hey you let Tony G out of here for a sixth rounder’ Plus, if the Chiefs don’t get a decent draft choice in return, they’ll get smacked twice by the public: once for trading Gonzalez and then for not getting enough for him.
On Tony's impact with the Chiefs:
Listen, we all love Tony, but he’s not a game changer. In 179 career games, he has 861 catches. That’s an average of 4.8 catches per game. He’s got 75 touchdown catches and that’s an average of a score every 11.5 catches.
That math means he catches a TD pass on average every third game. That’s not a game changer.
What kind of compensation should we look for?
If I’m Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards, I get a second or third-round pick, or a fourth and another choice. Anything less and the deal does not get done.
On Gonzalez coming back if a trade doesn't get done:
Gonzalez is a pro and as long as he feels the Chiefs made a good faith effort to deal him, he should come back and be fine.
As much as we all don't want to admit it, this is probably the train of thought the front office took when determining what to do with Gonzalez.
If you're the GM, is this your line of thinking? Remember with these trades, it's important to take your heart out of the equation. Your job is to do what's best for the team even if that means placing a numeric value on someone whose been a staple of the organization and the city for the last decade.