It isn't about just give him an extra $150,000 though. If you give it to him, then the next guy who wants a contract will do the same thing. And so forth. When dealing with contracts, players try to set a precedent and GM's try not to. You just can't give in if you don't believe the contract is good. That is how so many teams got stuck with players who had no trade clauses. They were like, oh, its not that big of a deal and we need to sign him. Then, the next player asked for one. And the next player.
Obviously both sides are valuing Anderson differently. But I wonder how that 150k is relative to underpay/fair/overpay. Is Anderson seeking an overpayment or something fair? Is Jarmo proposing something fair or is he lowballing Anderson? I tend to think it is the latter. Jarmo has the leverage and the contracts for young guys thus far seem to be coming in under market (at least as much as we armchair capologists and GMs guess at value), so why would we expect a fair market offer for Anderson?
I think "setting precedent" is a bit of a boogie man here. Is it conceivable that there are players in the locker room thinking, "WTF? They won't give Andy another $150k a year? They're being that cheap?" I think that would be my mindset, personally. Boom, you just set another precedent. And when my negotiations came up, I'd be inclined to stand firm and push for more too. As long as we're speculating about things in the future, is this not possible? I think it is.
I don't think you can treat every negotiation the same because every player and every situation and every team isn't the same. At the end of the day, we're talking about $150k here. That is nothing. Maybe try to compromise at $75k or $100k? The point is we're not talking millions of dollars here. Agents are going to try to leverage you every time regardless of your past behaviors.
I even already have the line for Jarmo to use in the future:
Agent: Well, you caved on Anderson's contract!
Jarmo: Yeah, it was a $150,000 gap, you're asking for (insert ridiculous hypothetical overpayment figure here). $150,000 does not equal (insert ridiculous hypothetical overpayment figure here). If you want $150,000, here is $150,000.
(for the record if every player on the team got $150k extra that adds $3.45 million to the budget).
The downside of this hardlining (losing Anderson outright or having him start the season slow or stunted or disgruntled) just doesn't equate to $150k in annual savings in my mind.
I think Jarmo is doing a great job overall. But, as I said in my initial post, $150k is a really, really petty, tiny, piddly little hill on which to make your stand.