Taking on contracts to acquire good pitching - Is it worth it?

[Warfarin]

4 hours ago, Second Base said:

From where I'm standing right now, I'd say...

1. It only takes two teams for a bidding war, and Bauer figures to have at least four. We saw what crazy number deep pockets teams are willing to go to last winter with the Nats spending that much on Strasburg and Yankees spending that much on Cole. Minasian shouldn't be the one that makes that mistake. I think it's Bauer to the Mets or Dodgers.

2. Seeing what TB just got for Snell likely means that if the Reds were considering not selling, they're probably reconsidering right now.  

Just a guess, but I'm thinking the Angels probably end up overpaying in a trade for Sonny Gray to the tune of Brandon Marsh, Jack Kochanowicz, Luis Rengifo and Jaime Barria, sign Jake Odorizzi to a bloated contract that's like 4/60 when he really should be getting 3/36, trade for a lesser known catcher to split duties with Stassi, and sign another reliever for around 5 million. 

So no Bauer, Darvish, Castillo, Snell or Sugano. But still, not a franchise ceiling off-seasons either.

What four teams are competing for Bauer?  I really don't see the Dodgers in that mix at all, barring Bauer's market just entirely cratering.

The Mets are a legit threat, but beyond them, who else?  

One thing to consider - we saw what the Padres gave up for Snell, but keep in mind there are more teams looking to unload payroll this offseason than there are teams looking to add payroll.  So later on in the offseason, better deals could possibly be obtained by being patient.

We'll see how it pans out.  But I think in the end, we'll be okay and secure what we need.  There aren't too many buyers in this market on the whole.

[T.G.]

7 hours ago, Warfarin said:

There aren't too many buyers in this market on the whole.

How many is "aren't too many?" And how do you know this?