Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stanton staying?
CEO hasn’t been in touch with slugger
Marlins CEO Derek Jeter, right, says trading Giancarlo Stanton, left, isn’t an absolute.
ORLANDO — Derek Jeter, the Marlins’ CEO, has not spoken to Giancarlo Stanton, the Marlins’ franchise player, in the month and a half that he has been in charge of the organization, Jeter said Wednesday.
“If there’s a reason to call, I’ll call him,” Jeter said outside the Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel, where he is attending MLB’s quarterly owners’ meetings for the first time as the Marlins’ boss. “At this point, there’s no reason to call him.”
Stanton’s future is among the top storylines of baseball’s offseason, with the Marlins signaling to other teams — but not publicly — that they are looking to trade their NL MVP candidate/slugging right fielder as they reshape their roster under the new ownership group led by Jeter. Miami has reportedly engaged in preliminary Stanton trade talks with at least eight teams at this week’s GM Meetings.
President of baseball operations Michael Hill, it’s worth noting, has spoken to Stanton and said he has an idea of where Stanton would be willing to waive is no-trade clause to go. So
it’s “not like this radio silence” from the organization, Jeter said.
Jeter insisted the Marlins aren’t necessarily committed to moving Stanton.
“It’s not like we sat down and said listen, we have to trade him,” Jeter said. “We’re exploring options, what opportunities are there. We’re listening. Teams haven’t only reached out about Stanton. They’ve reached out about a lot of our players, which says a lot about the players in our organization. We’ll see.
“Giancarlo had a tremendous season. He has a full no-trade clause. I think a lot of this started when he came out and said expressed publicly he didn’t want to be a part of rebuild. That’s when rumors started floating around. I can’t tell the future.”
Jeter acknowledged that the Marlins need to turn things around financially, noting that while the club hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2003 and hasn’t had a winning season since 2009, the Marlins have also been losing money for years.
The Marlins’ financial picture and the $295 million Stanton is owed over the next decade are linked.
“I think it’s easy to point the finger at him because he makes the most money,” Jeter said. “But it doesn’t necessarily mean hat’s a move that’s going to be made.
“I understand the assumptions. I do. But we have not publicly come out and say we’re going to trade any particular player.”
Stanton isn’t the only player the Marlins might trade. Jeter said “we listen on all of our players,” while Hill noted some are more likely to be moved than others.
“I’m not going to name anyone specifically, because that’s disrespectful to the particular players. But we’re willing to listen,” Jeter said. “The team hasn’t won. We want to build a team that has an opportunity to win. So therefore yeah, we’re going to explore all of our options.
“It’s all hypothetical. Everything is complicated. I’m answering questions about hypotheticals. I’m trying to be very careful, because we have not said that we are trading [Stanton], so I’m answering questions about hypotheticals.”
Jeter on fired ex-Marlins
Among those who did not keep their jobs after Marlins chairman Bruce
Sherman and Jeter took over last month were four special assistants in the front office. Hall of Famers Andre
Dawson and Tony Perez, plus “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine and World Serieswinning manager Jack
McKeon, got cut. The hoopla that ensued amounted to bad PR right off the bat for Jeter & Co.
Dawson, Perez and Conine worked for former president David Samson, while McKeon was special assistant to former owner Jeffrey Loria.
Jeter addressed the saga for the first time Wednesday, and his version of events … largely matched what was widely reported. Here’s how Jeter put it: “We made it clear that the former president [Samson] was not coming back. Those guys were special assistants to the president. So when [Samson] was notified he wasn’t coming back, he was told to notify people who work for him. So they were notified.
“After we took over, got approved for the team, I reached back out and said, ‘I’d love to use you guys in some capacity.’ They came into the office, we spoke to them, let them know what capacity it was, and it was their decision.
“I respect that decision. It’s up to them what they wanted to do, but it’s a different organization now. We’re running things a little bit differently. They have that option, and I respect their opinion.”
The quartet reportedly made $100,000 apiece per year in their gigs under the Loria/Samson regime, while Jeter was said to offer $25,000 annually in diminished roles.
The special-assistant jobs were largely of the ambassador variety, hanging around at spring training and during batting practice and the like, plus occasionally representing the team in the community.