With things aggressively picking up on the Shohei Ohtani front (and with a new bullpen rumor for the Cubs), especially when compared to how slow things have been, it’s easy to feel a little bit sated today.
That said, we’re still waiting on a resolution to the Giancarlo Stanton trade story. It’s important not only because of the many downstream impacts, but also because, well, the Cubs’ chief rival is one of the finalists. And it’s also just fascinating to follow because it’s the reigning MVP, on a monster contract, being very openly shopped and traded.
At the end of last week, the Giants and Cardinals got the opportunity to meet with Stanton and his reps, with the Marlins reportedly on board with accepting either one of their trade offers. But Stanton might still be waiting on the Dodgers to declare one way or another before he’ll pull the trigger on accepting a trade (or before the Marlins decide enough is enough, and decide they’re going to just hold onto Stanton until midseason).
Derrick Goold has a great summation of where things stand from the Cardinals’ perspective, where they may very well have the best offer on the table (in prospects AND in the amount of money they’re willing to take on!). But if Stanton doesn’t want to go to St. Louis no matter what, it doesn’t much matter – and that includes the huge tax difference between Missouri and California, and the possibility that the Cardinals might be willing to let Stanton move his opt out up to after 2019, instead of 2020 (the Giants might allow that as well).
Source : Cardinals offer to Marlins as I previously reported, is centered around P Sandy Alcantara. I'm now told STL has also offered more money than SF in their deal.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 3, 2017
Either way, we could have a resolution on all of this soon, as Craig Mish has yet to have a report in this story that wasn’t spot on:
Source : Stanton trade expected to be finalized in the next 2-3 days.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 3, 2017
Jon Heyman reports to the contrary that things are not close, but I’m not sure that anyone knows for certain, since the ball appears to be entirely in Stanton’s court at this point. The Marlins have at least two deals they’d accept, but Stanton might want to wait on the Dodgers, who probably aren’t in a financial position to go full out on him just yet (until they lay out a broader plan with respect to their luxury tax situation (remember: when you go as far over the luxury tax as the Dodgers would to get Stanton, not only are the monetary penalties absurd, but your top draft pick falls by 10 spots)).
UPDATE: Jerry Crasnick’s sources concur with Heyman, not Mish (who, again, has been right about everything so far):
A Giancarlo Stanton trade isn't close to completion, despite the frenzy resulting from weekend meetings with the #SFGiants and #STLCardinals. It's a complicated transaction with a lot of moving pieces, and it appears it's going to drag on a while. Nothing imminent.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 4, 2017