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Now that was funny. Love the extra deflection twist. LOL!Originally Posted by Shoeless
Shoeless: Hello Sludge.
Sludge: Hey Shoeless. How did you know it was me calling?
Shoeless: Well, my daughter answered the phone and then called me and said, “It’s for you, Dad – it’s Sludge.”
Sludge: Ahh, so how did she know it was me calling?
Shoeless: Caller ID. So what’s up?
Sludge: I was wondering if I could pick your brain about a situation I have going on with the manager of the Puffians in our keeper league.
Shoeless: Alright, what’s the deal?
Sludge: Well, I asked if he would be interested in moving Franzen and he said he would consider it, for the right price.
Shoeless: That’s a start. So did you put together an offer?
Sludge: Well, here’s the thing, huh, I suggested he look at my team and decide what would work for him and get back to me with an offer.
Shoeless: And …?
Sludge: He said no, he wasn’t going to do that. He said if I wanted Franzen then it was up to me to put together an offer for him to consider.
Shoeless: Kinda makes sense, so then what?
Sludge: Well that’s where we are at now, I decided to give you a shout for some ideas as to how to deal with this kind of resistant GM.
Shoeless: Why do you say he’s resistant? Sounds to me like he is open to doing a deal and that all you need to do is come up with an offer to get the talks going about what it will take.
Sludge: Puleeze, that old trick about dragging your feet and insisting that the other guy make the first offer is getting real old. I’m not going to bite on that one. Like how tough is it to take a quick boo at my roster and come up with an offer that he thinks is fair. Nope, I’m not falling for that Sam Shady tactic.
Shoeless: Man, Sludge, I am having a hard time seeing how that is shady. Seems simple enough to me that you want Franzen because he is going to help your team and you just have to decide what kind of offer will make it worth your while to do the deal and get it over to the guy.
Sludge: Wow, sometimes you seem so na�ve. This is just the old ploy of him getting me to overpay or at least pay more than I have to because he would have accepted less – but he keeps me in the dark so that I don’t know where the real target is. Nah, I’m not letting him off the hook here, he’s gotta come up with some framework first or I’m just going to walk away – I don’t need Franzen that bad that I want to risk getting roughed up in a trade for him. Anyway, do you have any ideas as to how I can improve my position here and get this guy to give me some information about what he is thinking?
Shoeless: Well, I am a little stuck actually, but I do have one idea.
Sludge: Let me have it.
Shoeless: How about if you tell me your bottom line for Franzen and then I can kinda check with Puffiness to see if I landed those assets in a trade, if they would be good enough to get Franzen and then if he says yes – then you can just make the offer to him and Bob’s your uncle. That way you get to make an offer without fearing that you are paying more than you want to or should and he isn’t getting an overpay out of you.
Sludge: Man, you are a genius – how do you come up with these brilliant tactics?
Shoeless: Well, this one is straight out of Gestalt Therapy – it’s called deflection.
Sludge: Well, I would really appreciate if you will do this – I’ll sharpen the pencil and let you know what I am willing to part with and get back to you. So why would you help me out this way?
Shoeless: I got a sentence to do 100 hours of community service work for that DUI thing a month ago, I am pretty sure this qualifies for credit.
Is it a coincidence that you include deflection and Franzen?
