Thanks for answering 40's horrible point, Joe. Two different animals, Fitz's contract and the atrocious contracts given our FAs last offseason.
Bottom line is, Graves made his bed and he has to lie in it. I've been saying it like a broken record, and I'll say it again...IT MAKES SENSE TO FITZ TO EXTEND. As long as he gets a good contract that will bump up his guaranteed money enough he will sign it, guaranteed. We have to be creative enough to offer that. It doesn't sound like we are. It sounds like we're trying to get too much of a home town discount. Let's see, we're what, 6 days from FA, and STILL hoping for a home town discount to get a deal done? Pathetic. Graves needs to sack up, stop wasting time, and hammer a deal out. He's had an eternity to do this, and it doesn't sound to me like he's done more than plod along slowly and hope it gets done.
Like someone said, we had all of these problems (Dansby, Pace, Fitz), and we KNEW about them, while the season was still going. We didn't manage to get a Dansby extension done. Taken alone, not a big deal, because we had the Franchise Tag safety net. We didn't get Pace re-signed. We didn't get Fitz extended. We cut some players that needed cutting, which took no brainpower. We did manage to get Berry to take a paycut, which while a great move, was not that difficult to accomplish. So, out of all the big issues we had, Graves has thus far accomplished ZERO of them. On top of that, we have fewer good players under contract from last year because Graves gobbled up our cap space and kept us from signing more quality players. Now, his own lack of initiative looks to hamstring us before the FA period even starts. Not too good for the home team from where I'm sitting.
Now, is there time to get things done still? Sure, a veritable eternity in negotiating time. If, however, Graves doesn't come to his senses NOW, then those 6 days will be gone in the blink of an eye. If Fitz hits FA with the deal he has now, Graves should be fired at 12:01 on March 1st. He's made some nice, small moves so far this offseason. Now he has to earn his pay and get the tough stuff accomplished. Now. Not tomorrow, not mid-March. NOW.