A major league baseball team signs a star to a five year contract. In the middle of the second year, the players performance begins to degrade very quickly. Each team can only carry 25 players on its active roster, and 40 players in total (including minor league players) Major league baseball has a trading deadline. After that date it becomes extremely difficult to trade players to another team. The trade deadline is now rapidly approaching.

The general manager gathers his advisors and asks what to do about the star. The first advisor says: We pay the star so much we have to keep playing him. How else will we get a return on our salary? The second advisor says: This contract is a sunk cost. We should cut this player (i.e. release him from the roster, but not the contract) as soon as we can. We will have to eat his salary but we can at least have one more player on the active roster who will help win a championship. The third advisor wants to keep the star on the roster a little longer to see if the Star can break out of his batting slump. This will potentially increase the stars trade value and allow the team to recoup some of the salary it has paid. Evaluate the advice of each of the three advisors, using managerial accounting principles.