As Giancarlo Stanton trade rumors persist, the latest development suggested the Miami Marlins All-Star was open to waiving his no-trade clause for the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.
The notable inclusions were the Astros and Cubs, making for a quartet of teams that all reached this past season’s League Championship Series. It fell in line with one of Stanton’s reported priorities, which is playing for a contending team.
While there was some thought the slugger had closed off the possibility of accepting a trade to the San Francisco Giants or St. Louis Cardinals, that is not the case according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com:
Giancarlo Stanton is keeping all of his options open, and the reigning National League Most Valuable Player Award winner has not ruled out either the Giants or Cardinals from trade consideration, a source told MLB.com.
The Cardinals and Giants had contingents meet with Stanton and his representatives in Los Angeles late last week. The two clubs are also said to have already reached agreements with the Marlins on the general framework of trades.
It was previously reported Stanton would not waive his no-trade clause for the Cardinals, but ultimately would be willing to approve a deal with San Francisco. Of course, the consensus is he’s hopeful the Dodgers will become significant players in trade talks.
But considering the Marlins’ focus of shedding salary, and the Dodgers’ mindfulness of the luxury tax threshold, they teams don’t make for likely trade partners. Where Los Angeles holds an edge over some other clubs linked to Stanton is in their deep farm system.
Miami took their first step to slashing payroll for next season by trading Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for middling prospects.
