NEWSLETTER
It seems one or more of the parties involved in the long-time trade talks between Giancarlo Stanton, the Marlins, the Cardinals, and the Giants decided to force the issue. After the Cardinals announced that Stanton had rejected a trade to them, the Giants made an announcement of their own:
Official. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/9PNqKZtEoJ
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) December 8, 2017
With that, Stanton will not be headed to either of the two most involved, interested, and willing trade partners.
Last night, we learned that Stanton presently would accept a trade to only four teams: the Cubs, the Astros, the Yankees, and the Dodgers. We have been given no indication that the first two teams on that list are actually involved in trade talks, however. The Cubs, like any team, could find a place for Stanton’s bat, but without a substantially-reduced contract (unlikely) or a trade that involves Jason Heyward and his contract (not going to happen), a fit with the Cubs simply isn’t clear.
Maybe the Marlins are more desperate now, but probably not so desperate that they’re trading Stanton for pennies on the dollar (and if they were, a couple other teams would jump, too).
As for the Dodgers and Yankees, they’ve been laying in the weeds on this all along, willing to trade for Stanton, but only if they’re getting a fantastic deal. Now the Marlins must decide if they can stomach accepting a much worse offer from one of those teams than what they would have gotten from the Cardinals or Giants, or if they will hold onto Stanton and hope he gets desperate enough to get out that he waives his no-trade clause for a larger group of trade partners.
Relatedly, I’m not so sure I’m still quite as happy that Stanton rejected the Cardinals:
Cardinals did everything they could to get Stanton, offering over $300 million in salary assumption and prospect value. A+ effort; no payoff.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 8, 2017
Taking on $300 million+ and giving up legit prospect value? Yowsa. That could have been painful very quickly for the Cardinals, even if it obviously would have made them a serious threat to the Cubs in the coming years.
That said, it does provide the opportunity for fun:
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) December 8, 2017
