When the Miami Marlins put reigning National League MVP on the trade market at the beginning of this offseason, a potential trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers made some sense as he is a Los Angeles native that grew up a Dodger fan and the Dodgers ownership group has never been afraid to take on extra payroll.
Additionally, Stanton has a full no-trade clause, so he essentially has the ability to choose where he wants to be traded to as he could deny any trade he wants, which one agent believes could lead to him landing in Los Angeles.
So far though the Dodgers haven’t gotten involved in the sweepstakes, as their front office is attempting to get below the luxury tax threshold and taking on the entirety of Stanton’s 10-year, $295 million contract wouldn’t help with that.
The San Francisco Giants were considered the favorite to acquire Stanton, with the St. Louis Cardinals also being in the mix, but according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, the teams pursuing Stanton may believe that he wants to go to the Dodgers and he will use his no-trade clause to make it happen:
Sources: Some teams pursuing Giancarlo Stanton believe #Dodgers are his first choice, and that he will be reluctant to approve other destinations until there is clarity with LA. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 27, 2017
Stanton preferring to be traded to the Dodgers has been rumored for some time now, although he has yet to come out and say it. If that is indeed the case though, then the ball is now in the Dodgers court to make a deal happen.
While the Marlins would want Stanton’s trade suitors to take on the entirety of his salary in addition to sending them top prospects, that is unrealistic. So if the Dodgers want to keep their payroll down then they could ask for some salary relief on the Marlins end of the deal, or they could potentially ask the Marlins to take some salary back in the deal in the form of Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir or Brandon McCarthy.
With the Winter Meetings just around the corner, the rumors surrounding baseball’s best power hitter should continue to heat up and if he does, in fact, want to go to the Dodgers then the price to get him could drop for L.A.
