A week or two ago I was arguing for letting Bill walk because of the financial numbers, but our financial situation is pretty good right now so I think we can get away with offering him the extension and still being able to extend whichever of our prospects are willing. I can't imagine a $100M FA signing that would offer us more benefit than what we get from Bill.
I doubt any prospects are going to sign until the new CBA so in the short term we can only spend money on the major league roster and with everyone still on this high from the championship, maybe we can get some team friendly stuff inked. Contreras could make a huge amount of money in FA next year, especially if there is a salary minimum and 8-10 teams need to spend up to hit the minimum. So I think if we're going to get him extended we need to do it ASAP.
Maybe Bauers accepts the QO, you never know. From his perspective there could be some strategy in hitting FA in the year that the minimum goes in, so you take your $23 million paycheck to run it back with the same group and bet on yourself to have another good year.