Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
That’s probably a *little* too hard on Derek Jeter and the new Marlins crew, given the radioactive reign of Jeffrey Loria, but they’re extremely serious about slashing payroll this offseason, to the point where they’re threatening their biggest and priciest star.
Per the Miami Herald: “According to two sources with knowledge of discussions, the Marlins informed Stanton in October that if he refused to waive his no-trade rights and accept a trade, he would remain a Marlin and team officials would look to trade off other top players to reduce payroll.”
In other words, the Marlins are saying that when we come to you with a good trade that we want to accept, you should think twice about using your no-trade clause to reject it while hoping for the Dodgers to swoop in with an acceptable deal. Maybe that will help clear up the logjam, or maybe Stanton will call them on what he perceives is a bluff.
There hasn’t yet been an indication that the Marlins have accepted a trade and presented it to Stanton to consider yet. So neither side has had had to use the heavy so far. But the potential for an ugly stare down is looming.
When the time comes for Stanton to approve or reject a deal he might not want, Derrick Goold points out that the interested team could be granted a window of time in which to “pitch” Stanton on accepting the trade (not unlike Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer’s famous Thanksgiving pitch with the Red Sox to woo then Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling back in 2003).
As always, our outsider perspective on this remains a hope that something happens soon so that the market can shake loose. And barring a massive overpay by the Cardinals, we’d rather see Stanton head out west, all else equal. (As we discussed last night, no, I don’t think the Cubs are a great fit in trade here, so I’d be surprised if they’re one of the MYSTERY TEAMs.)