You have to look beyond one year as well. This offseason is probably when Plouffe's value will be the highest. A full year of control left and a lot more options than at the deadline when it comes to potential suitors. If you wait until the deadline they are going to have to hope the right situation comes along to make a deal, or potentially take less in return. If they do hang on to all year, now you are looking at a multi year extension to a guy who just turned 30. If they hang on to him they have a lot of time to ponder whether the step back in defense transitioning to Sano is worth getting a guy like Vargas/Arcia/Kepler in lineup to replace Plouffe's bat in the lineup. If indeed one steps up, they missed out on acquiring assets for Plouffe in a trade, but having him next year would be a really nice failsafe if all 3 of the options above fail. Either way it's going to be easy decision, and based on time on this board, won't be a popular decision either way they go with it.