I went through and read the message board posts on this reading the arguments. I think first off, something like this needs to be written in the comments of the trade. That’s essential and lets everyone know what is happening. Otherwise I think it can be considered collusion.
I’ve done a lot of creative trades and pushed the boundary on things like this. But I think the issue here stems from the fact that you have 2 teams working together to reduce cap penalties for each other. I agree that breaks the system because now it can be endless once two teams are working together. If Team A is willing to give up something to get something like this done and searches for the best deal around the league to have someone do that, I see no issue with that. The owner is then giving up something to get the right to rebid on Chris Sale. But once two teams are getting a quid-pro-quo benefit, then I think it’s crossing the line because there really is no limit there to how far that could go.
So I agree that this trade should be reversed. And the rule should be put in place that A) All trades that include cutting/auctioning players as a condition of the trade are clearly stated in the notes so the league can vote to veto it before it goes through. And then, either as a rule or not, the point should be made that quid-pro-quo arrangements are not allowed in any way…