I want to rebuild without name guys, but:
I totally agree with you, if you're going to play franchise against the rest of a CPU controlled league, they're going to do "whatever it takes" to win, so it makes sense to want to "beat them at their own game"...
I've seen things like Ichiro go to the BoSox as a half year "rental", only to end up with the NYY the following year...
Some pretty daffy stuff...