In the home games prior to this weekend's disaster, the team has been drawing 36K+ in attendance, and they were 1.5 games out of the wild card at the trade deadline, and had the best record in the league in July. How in the world was selling the right option?
Aside from the message it would have sent to the fans and organization, the players who might have been available to move (Paxton, Duvall, maybe Turner or the relievers, and possibly Verdugo) weren't going to bring back anything special anyway (and before you say "Look what the Mets got for Verlander and Scherzer, well.... they are Verlander and Scherzer, NOT James Paxton, and anyone who thinks Paxton was going to bring back anything close to what they did is drinking some serious milkshakes).