Ultimately, trade approvals have an element of the subjective in them.
Some managers prefer to anlyze trades solely on the basis of a player for player values comparison, but that leaves out position scarcity and the question of who else the team has.
Personally, I would not have approved the offer of Salmon and picks for Sheffield either, but I agree it isn't a slam dunk and perhaps other, more one-sided deals have been approved.
As for the Ensberg deal talked about--I like Ensberg too but his manager apparently doesn't. He doesn't get a lot of playing time and is no kid.
Dave N