Since the Miami Marlins made reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton available via trade at the beginning of the offseason, the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals have been the most aggressive in their pursuit of a deal.
However, Stanton holds a full no-trade clause, so even though both the Giants and Cardinals have reportedly reached agreements on deals with the Marlins, Stanton has yet to approve either in hopes that his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers will get involved.
If the Dodgers don’t get involved it will be for financial reasons, as the Giants and Cardinals are both willing to take on a majority of Stanton’s remaining 10-year, $295 million contract, while the Dodgers may not be as they want to get under the luxury tax threshold.
Stanton is still said to be holding out hope, though no deal is currently believed to be imminent. As for the Giants, they reportedly would assume the entirety of Stanton’s remaining contract and trade four prospects to the Marlins, per Craig Mish of Sirius XM Radio:
SourceS : Full trade offer from SF to Miami for Giancarlo Stanton.
Tyler Beede
Heliot Ramos (1st noted by @JoeFrisaro )
Chris Shaw
Christian Arroyo @jonmorosi had 250 mil 1st@clarkspencer had some combo of this deal also.— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 5, 2017
Contrary to that report, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Arroyo is not believed to be included in the proposed trade offer for Stanton:
Christian Arroyo is NOT part of #SFGiants proposed deal with Marlins for Stanton. #sfgiants.
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) December 5, 2017
Heliot Ramos, Chris Shaw, Tyler Beede and Christian Arroyo, in that order, are the Giants top four prospects according to Baseball America. Of the quartet, only Arroyo has reached the Majors.
If the Dodgers don’t get involved soon, baseball’s home run champion from 2017 could be playing for their biggest rival. While Stanton holds a no-trade clause, it’s believed he would ultimately approve a deal to join the Giants.
