When the Miami Marlins new ownership group put reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton on the trade block at the beginning of the offseason, the enormity of his contract made it difficult to find trade partners.
They eventually found not only one, but two, as the Marlins reportedly agreed to the framework of deals with both the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. The next problem was Stanton holds a full no-trade clause.
And he’s yet to approve a trade to either of those two teams, presumably waiting to see if his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers would get involved in the trade talks.
It appears the Dodgers are not the only team Stanton would accept a trade to, as according to Craig Mish Sirius XM Radio, Stanton is also willing to join the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros:
Now told Stanton will approve :
Dodgers
Yankees
Cubs
Astros— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) December 8, 2017
It was previously thought that Stanton wished to play on the West Coast, but it looks like winning now outweighs that desire. It’s noteworthy that the four reported teams all competed in this past year’s League Championship Series.
While the Marlins are in some position to use the teams as leverage against one another for a significant return, they’re believed to be prioritizing unloading most or all of Stanton’s remaining $295 million salary.
The Marlins took the first step to slashing their payroll for the 2018 season by trading Dee Gordon to the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
