According to Brian Costello:
An agent told me the other day that Idzik "won't budge an inch" in negotiations. I think we're seeing that. #nyj
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) March 17, 2014
Assuming this is correct and the agent wasn't speaking in hyperbole, this is an interesting point from Costello. There is both good and bad in it, so let's try and decipher how it might play out.
The good part about Idzik's strategy is that he absolutely will not get caught in a bidding war. He (and his team) set what they believe to be a reasonable offer, and they stick to it. They won't underpay, and they won't overpay a player that isn't worth it. For long term purposes, this is great. It's exactly the mistake that Mike Tannenbaum repeatedly made. Instead of overpaying a mediocre player, he'd rather hold onto the money and fairly pay a player he believes it's worth it. At the end of the day, both team and player are happy knowing they settled on a reasonable price.
The bad side to it is if Idzik is willing to miss out on a player because of a minor difference. Assuming the agent isn't speaking in hyperbole and Idzik will. not. budge. an. inch., even if it was a $100 difference in a $35M contract, then you can imagine that would get frustrating for players and will cause the team to miss out on some reasonable additions.
In the end, this kind of reinforces what we know about Idzik. That he sticks to his guns, and won't (in his estimation), overcommit. As I've said, there's good and bad to this strategy, and without actually knowing the difference in offers made by Idzik compared to other teams, speculation on whether he's actually pinching pennies (vs. being reasonable) seems groundless.