On the same day Shohei Ohtani announced his decision to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Giancarlo Stanton provided the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals with some clarity.
They were identified as the two most-aggressive teams that were in pursuit of the Miami Marlins All-Star, but Stanton wields a full no-trade clause. After meeting with both clubs last last week, he formally told the Cardinals and Giants he would not approve a trade to join either team.
With San Francisco and St. Louis removed from the picture, it left the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees as teams Stanton reportedly was open to joining.
Although there’s a wide expectation the Dodgers would become more involved in trade talks with the Marlins, it instead is the Yankees who are working on acquiring Stanton, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports:
Sources: Yankees making progress on a trade for Giancarlo Stanton. One source cautioned nothing done. Another was confident it’s moving toward that. Either way, momentum for Stanton to Yankees is significant.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 9, 2017
Aside from Marlins CEO Derek Jeter having previous ties to the Yankees, so too does Miami vice president of player development and scouting Gary Denbo. He spent the past three seasons as the Yankees’ vice president of player development, which makes him knowledge in their farm system.
With news of the Cardinals and Giants being eliminated from consideration by Stanton, it left the Marlins in a difficult position and without much leverage. The team has made no secret of its desire to slash payroll for the 2018 season.
Moving Stanton and $295 million remaining on his contract would accomplish as much, but his veto power hardly does the Marlins any favors in arranging for a team to agree to taking on a bulk of that salary.
