The focus on Virtanen right now is completely and totally bizarre. Of all the various useless parts clogging up the roster, this is the one we're ragging on? This is the one Benning is getting sniffy about on the radio? I mean, I was 99.9% sure he was gone before the playoffs, but the way this team goes about its business is just so mind-numbingly stupid sometimes. There's a certain someone making $6 million a year in the pressbox, $10 million a year rumbling around in Sutter, Beagle and Roussel (to be fair about it, Roussel was actually involved and not useless this playoffs), a 2nd/3rd pairing giraffe dman paid like a #1 for the next half decade...yet somehow discussion is raging about a guy who this year finally became the 20-20 guy his boosters have long talked him up as. It's just so weird.
And just for a second, let's take a moment and imagine how different the conversation would be about Virtanen if, instead of saying what he had, Benning had said: "Jake really improved for us this year. That's inarguable. While we feel there are still areas that need some work, we're committed to working with this player to address these areas moving forward, and we think we still haven't scratched the surface with Jake." How bloody hard is that?
I just can't fathom how many people around here act like Benning's attitude is totally unrelated to the market. Sure, everyone watched the playoffs. Everyone can see how Virtanen performed. But if you can't understand why people go into negotiations differently with Benning if they thought he really wanted to keep Virtanen and if he was looking to dump him at the first opportunity, I really don't know what to tell you.