Teams calling as Stanton soars
Trading slugger now would be foolish
The San Francisco Giants recently called, and privately informed the Miami Marlins of their interest.
So have the St. Louis Cardinals. The Texas Rangers. The Philadelphia Phillies didn’t want to be left out, either. They all have one thing in mind. They want Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, and while it’s not realistic now, it could be by the start of the 2018 season.
Stanton, who passed through waivers without a sniff a few weeks ago, suddenly has a captive audience, hitting his 50th home run Sunday earlier than any player since Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in 2001.
The man is hitting .296 with 50 homers, 108 RBI and a 1.059 OPS, including 29 homers in his last 46 games, and putting on a show we haven’t seen since the days of Bonds.
Despite his exploits, no team has informed the Marlins they would be willing to pay the remainder of Stanton’s entire salary, a cool $295 million over the next 10 years beginning in 2018.
But finally, the Marlins say, teams are calling, with the Giants expressing the strongest interest, a high-ranking Marlins’ executive told USA TODAY Sports.
The executive spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.
The Marlins, of course, have done enough boneheaded things to alienate a fanbase in its existence. They’ve done everything from wild fire sales to impulsive firings to idiotic hirings, to nonsensical promotions.
Yet, not even the Marlins, who will be sold as soon as their season ends to a group led by Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman, are stupid enough to trade Stanton now.
You don’t let a man walk out the door who has the chance to become only the sixth player in history to hit 60 home runs, and the first not linked to performance-enhancing drugs to eclipse Roger Maris’ 61-homer mark in 1961.
You don’t trade a man who’s carrying a franchise on his back, hitting .402 with 17 homers, .485 on-base percentage and a 1.046 OPS in his last 23 games, with only Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds having a higher OPS in August.
You don’t get rid of a money-making machine with 17 home games remaining in the schedule, with a chance to slash their projected $90 million debt this season with every swing of Stanton’s bat.
This is a man who’s the sixth player to hit 50 homers before September, leading the Marlins into the National League wild-card race, and could become their first player in franchise history to win the NL MVP award.
“He’s locked in right now in a way that people may think is extraordinary,” Marlins president David Samson says, “but for me, I view it as ordinary. This is the Giancarlo who we know. He wants to be the best.
“So the recent surge people are calling historic, I think it’s something he’s super capable of doing for another decade, at least. He’s the type of guy in his prime, that he stays healthy, you’re talking about the first Marlins’ Hall of Famer, in my mind.
“That’s what we thought about when we signed him, but who knows what tomorrow brings?” Exactly. Stanton will be wearing a Marlins’ uniform right up until the their season finale on Oct.1, or longer if they happen to make the playoffs. And never to be put on again. The Marlins, with Jeter running the show once the sale closes, will trade Stanton.
And the timing, in Jeter fashion, will be exquisite.
It would be altogether different, of course, if Jeffrey Loria was still owning the team. He would be lampooned to Cuba if he dared trade Stanton.
Sure, no one likes trading away a star, but the Marlins simply have no choice this time. This is a franchise already with more than $400million in debt. They simply can’t be viable economically with a player whose salary jumps from $14.5million to $25million in 2018, escalates to $32million, and doesn’t stop until 2028.
Oh, and forget that opt out clause in 2020. No one walks away from seven years and $218million.
The Marlins, who want to keep their payroll around $100million, simply can’t have one-third of their payroll tied into one player, no matter how many homers Stanton hits.
Let’s face it, considering Stanton’s injury-plagued past, his trade value may never be higher.