As the offseason began to unfold over the past month, the Los Angeles Dodgers figured to be players to potentially trade for Giancarlo Stanton or sign Shohei Ohtani. And as both scenarios played out over recent weeks and days, the Dodgers remained linked to speculation.
But in the case of Ohtani, that came to a close on Friday afternoon when he surprisingly decided to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In addition to the Angels and Dodgers, other finalists were the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.
The Dodgers at that point were widely expected to pivot to Stanton, who informed the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals he would not waive his no-trade clause for either team. It undid the Marlins’ progress of agreeing to the framework of separate trades with both clubs.
But rather than the Dodgers aggressively engaging the Marlins in trade talks, it instead was the New York Yankees. By early Saturday morning, they were said to have reached an agreement with Miami to acquire Stanton.
While the deal is still pending Stanton’s waiving his no-trade clause and subsequent physicals, the Dodgers are not expected to make a late run at trading for the Southern California native, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network:
Source: Last-ditch effort by #Dodgers to get Stanton today is unlikely.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 9, 2017
The general consensus was Stanton remained hopeful his hometown Dodgers would eventually become more involved in trade talks and ultimately swing a deal. While Los Angeles had interest, their concern over the luxury tax threshold superseded it.
Assuming Stanton heads to New York as the current outlook suggests, and with Ohtani officially off the market, the Dodgers will look to explore other means to upgrade the roster as MLB business is expected to intensify during and after the Winter Meetings.
